[House Document 104-165]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]




        104th Congress, 2d Session - - - - - - - - - - - - House 
Document 104-165



 
    DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT TO LIBYA

                               __________

                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

   A REPORT ON DEVELOPMENTS SINCE HIS LAST REPORT OF JULY 12, 1995, 
CONCERNING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT TO LIBYA, PURSUANT TO 50 
                  U.S.C. 1641(c) AND 50 U.S.C. 1703(c)




  January 22, 1996.--Message and accompanying papers referred to the 
     Committee on International Relations and ordered to be printed
To the Congress of the United States:
    I hereby report to the Congress on the developments since 
my last report of July 12, 1995, concerning the national 
emergency with respect to Libya that was declared in Executive 
Order No. 12543 of January 7, 1986. This report is submitted 
pursuant to section 401(c) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 
U.S.C. 1641(c); section 204(c) of the International Emergency 
Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 50 U.S.C. 1703(c); and section 
505(c) of the International Security and Development 
Cooperation Act of 1985, 22 U.S.C. 2349aa-9(c).
    1. On January 3, 1996, I renewed for another year the 
national emergency with respect to Libya pursuant to IEEPA. 
This renewal extended the current comprehensive financial and 
trade embargo against Libya in effect since 1986. Under these 
sanctions, all trade with Libya is prohibited, and all assets 
owned or controlled by the Libyan government in the United 
States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are 
blocked.
    2. There has been one amendment to the Libyan Sanctions 
Regulations, 31 CFR Part 550 (the ``Regulations''), 
administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (FAC) of 
the Department of the Treasury, since my last report on July 
12, 1995. The amendment (60 Fed. Reg. 37940-37941, July 25, 
1995) added three hotels in Malta to appendix A, Organizations 
Determined To Be Within the Term ``Government of Libya'' 
(Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) of Libya). A copy of the 
amendment is attached to this report.
    Pursuant to section 550.304(a) of the Regulations, FAC has 
determined that these entities designated as SDNs are owned or 
controlled by, or acting or purporting to act directly or 
indirectly on behalf of, the Government of Libya, or are 
agencies, instrumentalities, or entities of that government. By 
virtue of this determination, all property and interests in 
property of these entities that are in the United States or in 
the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked. Further, 
U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions with 
these entities unless the transactions are licensed by FAC. The 
designations were made in consultation with the Department of 
State.
    3. During the current 6-month period, FAC made numerous 
decisions with respect to applications for licenses to engage 
in transactions under the Regulations, issuing 54 licensing 
determinations--both approvals and denials. Consistent with 
FAC's ongoing scrutiny of banking transactions, the largest 
category of license approvals (20) concerned requests by Libyan 
and non-Libyan persons or entities to unblock transfers 
interdicted because of an apparent Government of Libya 
interest. A license was also issued to a local taxing authority 
to foreclose on a property owned by the Government of Libya for 
failure to pay property tax arrearages.
    4. During the current 6-month period, FAC continued to 
emphasize to the international banking community in the United 
States the importance of identifying and blocking payments made 
on or behalf of Libya. The Office worked closely with the banks 
to implement new interdiction software systems to identify such 
payments. As a result, during the reporting period, more than 
107 transactions potentially involving Libya, totaling more 
than $26.0 million, were interdicted. As of December 4, 23 of 
these transactions had been authorized for release, leaving a 
net amount of more than $24.6 million blocked.
    Since my last report, FAC collected 27 civil monetary 
penalties totaling more than $119,500, for violations of the 
U.S. sanctions against Libya. Fourteen of the violations 
involved the failure of banks or credit unions to block funds 
transfers to Libyan-owned or controlled banks. Two other 
penalties were received from corporations for export violations 
or violative payments to Libya for unlicensed trademark 
transactions. Eleven additional penalties were paid by U.S. 
citizens engaging in Libyan oilfield-related transactions while 
another 40 cases involving similar violations are in active 
penalty processing.
    In November 1995, guilty verdicts were returned in two 
cases involving illegal exportation of U.S. goods to Libya. A 
jury in Denver, Colorado, found a Denver businessman guilty of 
violating the Regulations and IEEPA when he exported 50 
trailers from the United States to Libya in 1991. A Houston, 
Texas, jury found three individuals and two companies guilty on 
charges of conspiracy and violating the Regulations and IEEPA 
for transactions relating to the 1992 shipment of oilfield 
equipment from the United States to Libya. Also in November, a 
Portland, Oregon, lumber company entered a two-count felony 
information plea agreement for two separate shipments of U.S.-
origin lumber to Libya during 1993. These three actions were 
the result of lengthy criminal investigations begun in prior 
reporting periods. Several other investigations from prior 
reporting periods are continuing and new reports of violations 
are being pursued.
    5. The expenses incurred by the Federal Government in the 
6-month period from July 6, 1995, through January 5, 1996, that 
are directly attributable to the exercise of powers and 
authorities conferred by the declaration of the Libyan national 
emergency are estimated at approximately $990,000. Personnel 
costs were largely centered in the Department of the Treasury 
(particularly in the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the 
Office of the General Counsel, and the U.S. Customs Service), 
the Department of State, and the Department of Commerce.
    6. The policies and actions of the Government of Libya 
continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the 
national security and foreign policy of the United States. In 
adopting UNSCR 883 in November 1993, the Security Council 
determined that the continued failure of the Government of 
Libya to demonstrate by concrete actions its renunciation of 
terrorism, and in particular its continued failure to respond 
fully and effectively to the requests and decisions of the 
Security Council in Resolutions 731 and 748, concerning the 
bombing of the Pan Am 103 and UTA 772 flights, constituted a 
threat to international peace and security. The United States 
will continue to coordinate its comprehensive sanctions 
enforcement efforts with those of other U.N. member states. We 
remain determined to ensure that the perpetrators of the 
terrorist acts against Pan Am 103 and UTA 772 are brought to 
justice. The families of the victims in the murderous Lockerbie 
bombing and other acts of Libyan terrorism deserve nothing 
less. I shall continue to exercise the powers at my disposal to 
apply economic sanctions against Libya fully and effectively, 
so long as those measures are appropriate, and will continue to 
report periodically to the Congress on significant developments 
as required by law.
                                                William J. Clinton.
    The White House, January 22, 1996.
      
    
    
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