[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 691 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 691

To terminate certain economic sanctions against Vietnam, to provide for 
less restrictive controls on exports of sensitive technology, material, 
 and data to Vietnam, and to increase access by United States citizens 
 to the territory of Vietnam in order to obtain a fuller accounting of 
     the fate of certain American servicemen from the Vietnam War.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                April 1 (legislative day, March 3), 1993

  Mr. Murkowski (for himself, Mr. Pell, Mr. Pressler, Mr. Wallop, Mr. 
  Lugar, and Mr. Dodd) introduced the following bill; which was read 
   twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To terminate certain economic sanctions against Vietnam, to provide for 
less restrictive controls on exports of sensitive technology, material, 
 and data to Vietnam, and to increase access by United States citizens 
 to the territory of Vietnam in order to obtain a fuller accounting of 
     the fate of certain American servicemen from the Vietnam War.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) it is the United States policy to promote democracy and 
        open, competitive markets in a world community increasingly 
        receptive to such ideals;
            (2) it is a priority of United States policy to resolve 
        finally the nearly 2,300 missing-in-action (MIA) and prisoner-
        of-war (POW) cases from the Vietnam War;
            (3) direct contact with Vietnam, and increased access by 
        American citizens in Vietnam, through humanitarian and business 
        endeavors, could serve to assist in the resolution of POW/MIA 
        cases through increased access to Vietnam;
            (4) since the establishment of the Vessey Mission and the 
        opening of the United States POW/MIA office in Hanoi in 1991 
        the Government of Vietnam has increased its cooperation in 
        investigating the fates of those American servicemen 
        unaccounted for through investigations of crash sites, follow-
        up on live sighting reports, and release of government and 
        military archives;
            (5) the Government of Vietnam has cooperated with the 
        United States in the pursuit of the objectives of the Paris 
        Peace Accords regarding the end of the civil war in Cambodia;
            (6) the Government of Vietnam has sought to introduce free 
        market reforms within the Vietnamese economy, relying less on a 
        centralized, government-planned economic structure;
            (7) the United States has maintained a complete economic 
        embargo against Vietnam since April 1975, prohibiting all 
        United States financial transactions involving citizens of, or 
        commodities from, Vietnam, as well as sales of commodities of 
        American origin to Vietnam;
            (8) no other country maintains similar sanctions against 
        Vietnam as those of the United States; and
            (9) such sanctions unwisely restrict the free flow of 
        western ideals of freedom, democracy, and free market systems.

SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF ECONOMIC SANCTIONS.

    (a) Termination of Prohibitions.--Any prohibition in any regulation 
or order in effect on the day before the effective date of this Act on 
any transaction described in section 500.201 of title 31, Code of 
Federal Regulations, with respect to Vietnam, or any national thereof, 
shall cease to apply on and after that date.
    (b) Savings Provision.--Any regulation, ruling, instruction, 
license, or other authorization issued before the effective date of 
this Act which exempted a transaction from the prohibition described in 
subsection (a) shall continue in effect after such date with respect to 
that transaction.

SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF PROHIBITION ON EXPORTS.

    (a) Termination of Specific Prohibition.--On and after the 
effective date of this Act, the provisions of section 785.1 of title 
15, Code of Federal Regulations, shall cease to apply to Vietnam.
    (b) Authority To Prescribe Regulations.--On the effective date of 
this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall prescribe regulations under 
section 6 of the Export Administration Act of 1979 to impose less 
restrictive export controls than described in subsection (a) on exports 
or reexports of United States-origin commodities and technical data to 
Vietnam but not more restrictive than controls on exports or reexports 
of such items to China.
    (c) Savings Provision.--Any valid license issued before the 
effective date of this Act pursuant to section 785.1 of title 15, Code 
of Federal Regulations, shall continue in effect after such date.

SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF PROHIBITION ON THE PURCHASE, TRANSPORT, AND 
              IMPORT OF CERTAIN GOODS.

    On and after the effective date of this Act, the provisions of 
section 500.204 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, shall cease 
to apply to Vietnam.

SEC. 4. CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act may be construed as--
            (1) authorizing any transaction or assistance prohibited to 
        Vietnam by any law other than the Trading With the Enemy Act of 
        1917, or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or 
        any proclamation, order, regulation, or license issued 
        thereunder; or
            (2) denying the President the exercise of authority under 
        the International Emergency Powers Act or the Trading With the 
        Enemy Act of 1917 based on situations occurring after the 
        effective date of this title.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect 30 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act.

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