I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1244
To provide a framework for consideration by the legislative and executive
branches of unilateral economic sanctions.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 24, 1999
Mr. CRANE (for himself, Mr. DOOLEY of California, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. AR-
CHER, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. SALMON, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr.
HOUGHTON, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. RANGEL, Mr.
SHAW, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. HERGER, Mr. MCCRERY, Ms.
DUNN, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. WATKINS,
Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. DREIER, Mr. PRICE of North Caro-
lina, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. MINGE, Mr.
KOLBE, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. CALLAHAN, Mr. LUTHER, Mr. EWING, Mr.
BLUMENAUER, Mr. BOEHNER, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. DAVIS
of Florida, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. JOHN, Mr. NETHERCUTT,
Mr. SNYDER, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. SHIMKUS,
Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. REYNOLDS, Mr. SHOWS, Mr. KUYKENDALL, Mrs.
NAPOLITANO, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. SKELTON, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. RAMSTAD,
and Mr. MORAN of Kansas) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to
the Committees on Ways and Means, and Banking and Financial Serv-
ices, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
the committee concerned
A BILL
To provide a framework for consideration by the legislative
and executive branches of unilateral economic sanctions.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhancement of
Trade, Security, and Human Rights through Sanctions
Reform Act’’.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
It is the purpose of this Act to establish an effective
framework for consideration by the legislative and execu-
tive branches of unilateral economic sanctions in order to
ensure coordination of United States policy with respect
to trade, security, and human rights.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States—
(1) to pursue United States interests through
vigorous and effective diplomatic, political, commer-
cial, charitable, educational, cultural, and strategic
engagement with other countries, while recognizing
that the national security interests of the United
States may sometimes require the imposition of eco-
nomic sanctions on other countries;
(2) to foster multilateral cooperation on vital
matters of United States foreign policy, including
promoting human rights and democracy, combating
international terrorism, proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction, and international narcotics traf-
ficking, and ensuring adequate environmental pro-
tection;
(3) to promote United States economic growth
and job creation by expanding exports of goods,
services, and agricultural commodities, and by en-
couraging investment that supports the sale abroad
of products and services of the United States;
(4) to maintain the reputation of United States
businesses and farmers as reliable suppliers to inter-
national customers of quality products and services,
including United States manufactures, technology
products, financial services, and agricultural com-
modities;
(5) to avoid the use of restrictions on exports
of agricultural commodities as a foreign policy weap-
on;
(6) to oppose policies of other countries de-
signed to discourage economic interaction with coun-
tries friendly to the United States or with any
United States national, and to avoid use of such
measures as instruments of United States foreign
policy; and
(7) when economic sanctions are necessary—
(A) to target them as narrowly as possible
on those foreign governments, entities, and offi-
cials that are responsible for the conduct being
targeted, thereby minimizing unnecessary or
disproportionate harm to individuals who are
not responsible for such conduct; and
(B) to the extent feasible, to avoid any ad-
verse impact of economic sanctions on the hu-
manitarian activities of United States and for-
eign nongovernmental organizations in a coun-
try against which sanctions are imposed.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) UNILATERAL ECONOMIC SANCTION.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘unilateral
economic sanction’’ means any prohibition, re-
striction, or condition on economic activity, in-
cluding economic assistance, with respect to a
foreign country or foreign entity that is im-
posed by the United States for reasons of for-
eign policy or national security, including any of
the measures described in subparagraph (B),
except in a case in which the United States im-
poses the measure pursuant to a multilateral
regime and the other members of that regime
have agreed to impose substantially equivalent
measures.
(B) PARTICULAR MEASURES.—The meas-
ures referred to in subparagraph (A) are the
following:
(i) The suspension, restriction, or pro-
hibition of exports or imports of any prod-
uct, technology, or service to or from a for-
eign country or entity.
(ii) The suspension of, or any restric-
tion or prohibition on, financial trans-
actions with a foreign country or entity.
(iii) The suspension of, or any restric-
tion or prohibition on, direct or indirect in-
vestment in or from a foreign country or
entity.
(iv) The imposition of increased tar-
iffs on, or other restrictions on imports of,
products of a foreign country or entity, in-
cluding the denial, revocation, or condi-
tioning of nondiscriminatory trade treat-
ment (normal trade relations).
(v) The suspension of, or any restric-
tion or prohibition on—
(I) the authority of the Export-
Import Bank of the United States to
give approval to the issuance of any
guarantee, insurance, or extension of
credit in connection with the export of
goods or services to a foreign country
or entity;
(II) the authority of the Trade
and Development Agency to provide
assistance in connection with projects
in a foreign country or in which a
particular foreign entity participates;
or
(III) the authority of the Over-
seas Private Investment Corporation
to provide insurance, reinsurance, fi-
nancing, or conduct other activities in
connection with projects in a foreign
country or in which a particular for-
eign entity participates.
(vi) A requirement that the United
States representative to an international fi-
nancial institution vote against any loan or
other utilization of funds to, for, or in a
foreign country or particular foreign entity.
(vii) A measure imposing any restric-
tion or condition on economic activity on
any foreign government or entity on the
grounds that such government or entity
does business in or with a foreign country.
(viii) A measure imposing any restric-
tion or condition on economic activity on
any person that is a national of a foreign
country, or on any government or other en-
tity of a foreign country, on the grounds
that the government of that country has
not taken measures in cooperation with, or
similar to, sanctions imposed by the
United States on a third country.
(ix) The suspension of, or any restric-
tion or prohibition on, travel rights or air
transportation to or from a foreign coun-
try.
(x) Any restriction on the filing or
maintenance in a foreign country of any
proprietary interest in intellectual property
rights (including patents, copyrights, and
trademarks), including payment of patent
maintenance fees.
(C) MULTILATERAL REGIME.—As used in
this paragraph, the term ‘‘multilateral regime’’
means an agreement, arrangement, or obliga-
tion under which the United States cooperates
with other countries in restricting commerce for
reasons of foreign policy or national security,
including—
(i) obligations under resolutions of the
United Nations;
(ii) nonproliferation and export con-
trol arrangements, such as the Australia
Group, the Nuclear Supplier’s Group, the
Missile Technology Control Regime, and
the Wassenaar Arrangement;
(iii) treaty obligations, such as under
the Chemical Weapons Convention, the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons, and the Biological Weapons Con-
vention; and
(iv) agreements concerning protection
of the environment, such as the Inter-
national Convention for the Conservation
of Atlantic Tunas, the Declaration of Pan-
ama referred to in section 2(a)(1) of the
International Dolphin Conservation Act
(16 U.S.C. 1361 note), the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Spe-
cies, the Montreal Protocol on Substances
that Deplete the Ozone Layer, and the