[House Document 104-24]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]





                                     

        104th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - - - - House 
Document 104-24


 
   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 18, 1994, 
CONCERNING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT TO LIBYA, PURSUANT TO 50 
                             U.S.C. 1703(c)




    January 31 (legislative day of January 30), 1995.--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 18, 1994, 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 December 22, 1994, 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 Untied 
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 C.F.R. 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 
18, 1994. The amendment (59 Fed. Reg. 51106, October 7, 1994) 
identified Arab Hellenic Bank (AHB), an Athens-based financial 
institution, 4 other entities, and 10 individuals as Specially 
Designated Nationals (SDNs) of Libya. (In addition to the 
recent SDN action against AHB, the Greek central bank has 
recently announced that AHB's banking license has been 
revoked.) Included among the individuals are three Italian 
shareholders in Oilinvest (Netherlands) B.V., who increased 
their positions in the Libyan government-controlled firm 
shortly before United Nations Security Council Resolution 
(UNSCR) 883 directed a freeze on certain Libyan assets owned or 
controlled by the Government or public authorities of Libya.
    Pursuant to section 550.304(a) of the Regulations, FAC has 
determined that these entities and individuals 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 or persons 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 individuals or entities 
unless the transactions are licensed by FAC. The designations 
were made in consultation with the Department of State and 
announced by FAC in notices issued on June 17 and July 22 and 
25, 1994. A copy of the amendment is attached to this report.
    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 136 licensing 
determinations--both approvals and denials. Consistent with 
FAC's ongoing scrutiny of banking transactions, the largest 
category of license approvals (73) concerned requests by non-
Libyan persons or entities to unblock bank accounts initially 
blocked because of an apparent Government of Libya interest. 
The largest category of denials (41) was for banking 
transactions in which FAC found a Government of Libya interest. 
Three licenses were issued authorizing intellectual property 
protection in Libya.
    In addition, FAC issued eight determinations with respect 
to applications from attorneys to receive fees and 
reimbursement of expenses for provision of legal services to 
the Government of Libya in connection with wrongful death civil 
actions arising from the Pan Am 103 bombing. Civil suits have 
been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of 
Columbia and in the Southern District of New York. 
Representation of the Government of Libya when named as a 
defendant in or otherwise made a party to domestic U.S. legal 
proceedings is authorized by section 550.517(b)(2) of the 
Regulations under certain conditions.
    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 
by or on behalf of Libya. The FAC worked closely with the banks 
to implement new interdiction of software systems to identify 
such payments. As a result, during the reporting period, more 
than 210 transactions involving Libya, totaling more than $14.8 
million, were blocked. As of December 9, 1994, 13 of these 
transactions had been licensed to be released, leaving a net 
amount of more than $14.5 million blocked.
    Since my last report, FAC collected 15 civil monetary 
penalties totaling more than $76,000 for violations of the U.S. 
sanctions against Libya. Nine of the violations involved the 
failure of banks to block funds transfers to Libyan-owned or -
controlled banks. Two other penalties were received for 
corporate export violations. Four additional penalties were 
paid by U.S. citizens engaging in Libyan oilfield-related 
transactions while another 76 cases of similar violations are 
in active penalty processing.
    In October 1994, two U.S. businessmen, two U.S. 
corporations, and several foreign corporations were indicted by 
a Federal grand jury in Connecticut on three counts of 
violating the Regulations and IEEPA for their roles in the 
illegal exportation of U.S. origin fuel pumps to Libya. Various 
enforcement actions carried over from previous reporting 
periods have continued to be aggressively pursued. The FAC has 
continued its efforts under the Operation Roadblock initiative. 
This ongoing program seeks to identify U.S. persons who travel 
to and/or work in Libya in violation of U.S. law.
    Several new investigations of potentially significant 
violations of the Libyan sanctions have been initiated by FAC 
and cooperating U.S. law enforcement agencies, primarily the 
U.S. Customs Service. Many of these cases are believed to 
involve complex conspiracies to circumvent the various 
prohibitions of the Libyan sanctions, as well as the 
utilization of international diversionary shipping routes to 
and from Libya. The FAC has continued to work closely with the 
Departments of State and Justice to identify U.S. persons who 
enter into contracts or agreements with the Government of 
Libya, or other third-country parties, to lobby United States 
Government officials or to engage in public relations work on 
behalf of the Government of Libya without FAC authorization. In 
addition, during the period FAC hosted or attended several 
bilateral and multilateral meetings with foreign sanctions 
authorities, as well as with private foreign institutions, to 
consult on issues of mutual interest and to encourage strict 
adherence to the U.N.-mandated sanctions.
    5. The expenses incurred by the Federal Government in the 
6-month period from July 7, 1994, through January 6, 1995, that 
are directly attributable to the exercise of powers and 
authorities conferred by the declaration of the Libyan national 
emergency are estimated at approximately $1.4 million. 
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 UNSCRs 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 continues 
to believe that still stronger international measures than 
those mandated by UNSCR 883, possibly including a worldwide oil 
embargo, should be imposed if Libya continues to defy the will 
of the international community as expressed in UNSCR 731. 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 30, 1995.