[House Document 105-194]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



105th Congress, 2d Session  - - - - - - - - - - House Document 105-194


 
         DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH LIBYA

                               __________

                             COMMUNICATION

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

A REPORT ON DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT 
TO LIBYA THAT WAS DECLARED IN EXECUTIVE ORDER 12543 OF JANUARY 7, 1986, 
                     PURSUANT TO 50 U.S.C. 1703(c)





February 3, 1998.--Referred to the Committee on International Relations 
                       and ordered to be printed


                                           The White House,
                                      Washington, January 13, 1998.
Hon. Newt Gingrich,
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Speaker: I hereby report to the Congress on the 
developments since my last report of June 26, 1997, concerning 
the national emergency with respect to Libya that was declared 
in Executive Order 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 2, 1998, 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, virtually 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 have been two amendments to the Libyan Sanctions 
Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 550 (the ``LSR'' or the 
``Regulations''), administered by the Office of Foreign Assets 
Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury, since my 
report of June 26, 1997. The Regulations were amended on August 
25, 1997. General reporting, record-keeping, licensing, and 
other procedural regulations were moved from the Regulations to 
a separate part (31 C.F.R. Part 501) dealing solely with such 
procedural matters (62 Fed. Reg. 45098, August 25, 1997). A 
copy of the amendment is attached.
    On September 15, 1997, the Regulations were amended to add 
to appendices A and B to 31 C.F.R. chapter V the name of one 
entity and one individual who have been determined to act for 
or on behalf of, or to be owned or controlled by, the 
Government of Libya (62 Fed. Reg. 48177, September 15, 1997). A 
copy of the amendment is attached.
    3. During the reporting period, OFAC reviewed numerous 
applications for licenses to authorize transactions under the 
Regulations. Consistent with OFAC's ongoing scrutiny of banking 
transactions, the largest category of license approvals (32) 
concerned requests by non-Libyan persons or entities to unblock 
transfers interdicted because of what appeared to be Government 
of Libya interests. Five licenses authorized the provision of 
legal services to the Government of Libya in connection with 
actions in U.S. courts in which the Government of Libya was 
named as defendant. Licenses were also issued authorizing 
diplomatic and U.S. government transactions, and to permit U.S. 
companies to engage in transactions with respect to 
intellectual property protection in Libya. A total of 49 
licenses was issued during the reporting period.
    4. During the current 6-month period, OFAC 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 OFAC worked closely with the 
banks to assure the effectiveness of interdiction software 
systems used to identify such payments. During the reporting 
period, more than 70 transactions potentially involving Libya, 
totaling more than $4.4 million, were interdicted. As of 
November 10, 1997, 8 transactions had been authorized for 
release, leaving a net amount of more than $4.3 million blocked 
for the period.
    5. Since my last report, OFAC collected 7 civil monetary 
penalties totaling more than $77,000 for violations of the U.S. 
sanctions against Libya. Five of the violations involved the 
failure of banks to block funds transfers or loan syndication 
payments to Libyan-owned or -controlled financial institutions 
or commercial entities in Libya. One U.S. corporation and one 
law firm paid OFAC penalties for export and payment to the 
Government of Libya violations, respectively. Fifty-five other 
cases are in active penalty processing.
    Various enforcement actions carried over from previous 
reporting periods have continued to be aggressively pursued. On 
June 26, 1997, a Federal grand jury for the Middle District of 
Florida returned an indictment charging a St. Petersburg, 
Florida man with one count of conspiring to violate IEEPA and 
the Libyan Sanctions Regulations, two counts of dealing in 
property in which the Government of Libya has an interest, one 
count of purchasing goods (airline tickets) for export from 
Libya, and one count for transactions to evade and avoid the 
prohibitions of the LSR. The defendant remains a fugitive and 
warrants have been issued for his arrest. Numerous 
investigations are ongoing and new reports of violations are 
being scrutinized.
    6. The expenses incurred by the Federal Government in the 
6-month period from July 7, 1997, through January 6, 1998, that 
are directly attributable to the exercise of powers and 
authorities conferred by the declaration of the Libyan national 
emergency are estimated at approximately $620,000.00. 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.
    7. 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 United Nations 
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.
            Sincerely,
                                                William J. Clinton.




                                
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