Prohibited Refusal To Do Business

When a boycotting country rejects for boycott-related reasons a shipment of goods sold by a United States person, the United States person selling the goods may return them to its inventory or may re-ship them to other markets (the United States person may not return them to the original supplier and demand restitution). The U.S. person may then make a non-boycott based selection of another supplier and provide the goods necessary to meet its obligations to the boycotting customer in that particular transaction without violating § 760.2(a) of this part. If the United States person receives another order from the same boycotting country for similar goods, the Department has determined that a boycott-based refusal by a United States person to ship goods from the supplier whose goods were previously rejected would constitute a prohibited refusal to do business under § 760.2(a) of this part. The Department will presume that filling such an order with alternative goods is evidence of the person's refusal to deal with the original supplier.

The Department recognizes the limitations this places on future transactions with a boycotting country once a shipment of goods has been rejected. Because of this, the Department wishes to point out that, when faced with a boycotting country's refusal to permit entry of the particular goods, a United States person may state its obligation to abide by the requirements of United States law and indicate its readiness to comply with the unilateral and specific selection of goods by the boycotting country in accordance with § 760.3(d). That section provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

“A United States person may comply or agree to comply in the normal course of business with the unilateral and specific selection by a boycotting country * * * of * * * specific goods, * * * provided that * * * with respect to goods, the items, in the normal course of business, are identifiable as to their source or origin at the time of their entry into the boycotting country by (a) uniqueness of design or appearance or (b) trademark, trade name, or other identification normally on the items themselves, including their packaging.”

The United States person may also provide certain services in advance of the unilateral selection by the boycotting country, such as the compilation of lists of qualified suppliers, so long as such services are customary to the type of business the United States person is engaged in, and the services rendered are completely non-exclusionary in character (i.e., the list of qualified suppliers would have to include the supplier whose goods had previously been rejected by the boycotting country, if they were fully qualified). See § 760.2(a)(6) of this part for a discussion of the requirements for the provision of these services.

The Department wishes to emphasize that the unilateral selection exception in § 760.3(d) of this part will be construed narrowly, and that all its requirements and conditions must be met, including the following:

—Discretion for the selection must be exercised by a boycotting country; or by a national or resident of a boycotting country; —The selection must be stated in the affirmative specifying a particular supplier of goods; —While a permissible selection may be boycott based, if the United States person knows or has reason to know that the purpose of the selection is to effect discrimination against any United States person on the basis of race, religion, sex, or national origin, the person may not comply under any circumstances.

The Department cautions United States persons confronted with the problem or concern over the boycott-based rejection of goods shipped to a boycotting country that the adoption of devices such as “risk of loss” clauses, or conditions that make the supplier financially liable if his or her goods are rejected by the boycotting country for boycott reasons are presumed by the Department to be evasion of the statute and regulations, and as such are prohibited by § 760.4 of this part, unless adopted prior to January 18, 1978. See § 760.4(d) of this part.

[61 FR 12862, Mar. 25, 1996, as amended at 65 FR 34949, June 1, 2000]