[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 18 (Monday, May 10, 1999)]
[Pages 780-781]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress Reporting on Economic Sanctions Against the 
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)

April 30, 1999

To the Congress of the United States:

    In response to the brutal ethnic cleansing campaign in Kosovo 
carried out by the military, police, and paramilitary forces of the 
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), the NATO allies 
have agreed to buttress NATO's military actions by tightening economic 
sanctions against the Milosevic regime. Pursuant to section 204(b) of 
the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 U.S.C. 
1703(b), I hereby report to the Congress that, in order to implement the 
measures called for by NATO, I have exercised my statutory authority to 
take additional steps with respect to the continuing human rights and 
humanitarian crisis in Kosovo and the national emergency described and 
declared in Executive Order 13088 of June 9, 1998.
    Pursuant to this authority, I have issued a new Executive order 
that:
<bullet>    expands the assets freeze previously imposed on the assets 
            of the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 
            (Serbia and Montenegro), the Republic of Serbia, and the 
            Republic of Montenegro subject to U.S. jurisdiction, by 
            removing the exemption in Executive Order 13088 for 
            financial transactions by United States persons conducted 
            exclusively through the domestic banking system within the 
            Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) or 
            using bank notes or barter;
<bullet>    prohibits exports or reexports, directly or indirectly, from 
            the United States or by a United States person, wherever 
            located, of goods, software, technology, or services to the 
            Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) or

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            the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 
            (Serbia and Montenegro), the Republic of Serbia, or the 
            Republic of Montenegro;
<bullet>    prohibits imports, directly or indirectly, into the United 
            States of goods, software, technology, or services from the 
            Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) or 
            owned or controlled by the Governments of the Federal 
            Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), the Republic 
            of Serbia, or the Republic of Montenegro;
<bullet>    prohibits any transaction or dealing, including approving, 
            financing, or facilitating, by a United States person, 
            wherever located, related to trade with or to the Federal 
            Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) or the 
            Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia 
            and Montenegro), the Republic of Serbia, or the Republic of 
            Montenegro.
    The trade-related prohibitions apply to any goods (including 
petroleum and petroleum products), software, technology (including 
technical data), or services, except to the extent excluded by section 
203(b) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)).
    The ban on new investment by United States persons in the territory 
of Serbia--imposed by Executive Order 13088--continues in effect.
    The Executive order provides that the Secretary of the Treasury in 
consultation with the Secretary of State, shall give special 
consideration to the circumstances of the Government of the Republic of 
Montenegro. As with Executive Order 13088, an exemption from the new 
sanctions has been granted to Montenegro. In implementing this order, 
special consideration is also to be given to the humanitarian needs of 
refugees from Kosovo and other civilians within the Federal Republic of 
Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).
    In keeping with my Administration's new policy to exempt commercial 
sales of food and medicine from sanctions regimes, the Executive order 
directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the 
Secretary of State, to authorize commercial sales of agricultural 
commodities and products, medicine, and medical equipment for civilian 
end use in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). 
Such sales are to be subject to appropriate safeguards to prevent 
diversion to military, paramilitary, or political use by the Governments 
of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), the 
Republic of Serbia, or the Republic of Montenegro.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
April 30, 1999.

Note: This message was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
May 1.