On March 28, 2024, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced a new resource to help identify boycott-related requests U.S. persons and companies may receive during the regular course of conducting business. The resource is a public list of entities identified as making a boycott-related request in reports received by the BIS and follows the BIS July 2023 policy memo implementing efforts to enhance enforcement and compliance with U.S. antiboycott regulations. See Thompson Hine Update of July 28, 2023. The list is posted on the BIS Office of Antiboycott Compliance webpage.
The antiboycott provisions set forth in Part 760 of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) discourage, and in certain circumstances prohibit, U.S. persons from taking certain actions in furtherance or support of a boycott maintained by a foreign country against a country friendly to the United States (an unsanctioned foreign boycott). In releasing the list, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod stated, “By publishing this list, we aim to raise awareness of the sources of past boycott requests, facilitate fulfillment of the antiboycott reporting requirements, and deter foreign parties from imposing – and U.S. parties from acquiescing to – boycott-related requests and conditions.” Each entity on this list has been recently reported to the BIS as making a boycott-related request in connection with a transaction in the interstate or foreign commerce of the United States. The BIS indicated that the list is not exhaustive and will be updated quarterly.
Together, the Department of the Treasury (via the 1976 Tax Reform Act) and the BIS Office of Antiboycott Compliance oversee efforts to counteract the participation of U.S. persons and companies in other countries’ economic boycotts or embargoes.