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105th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 105-25


 
 DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT TO LIBYA

                               __________

                             COMMUNICATION

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

   A REPORT ON DEVELOPMENTS SINCE HIS LAST REPORT OF JULY 22, 1996, 
   CONCERNING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT TO LIBYA THAT WAS 
    DECLARED IN EXECUTIVE ORDER NO.  12543  OF  JANUARY  7,  1986,  
                    PURSUANT  TO  50  U.S.C. 1703(c)

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January 21, 1997.--Referred to the Committee on International Relations 
                       and ordered to be printed


                                           The White House,
                                      Washington, January 10, 1997.
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 July 22, 1996, 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, 1997, 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 have been two amendments to the Libyan Sanctions 
Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 550 (the ``Regulations''), 
administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of 
the Department of the Treasury, since my last report on July 
22, 1996. The Libyan Sanctions Regulations were amended on 
August 22, 1996, to add the Antiterrorism and Effective Death 
Penalty Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-132; 110 Stat. 1214-1319 
(the ``Antiterrorism Act'') as an authority for the 
Regulations. (61 Fed. Reg. 43460, August 23, 1996). On April 
24, 1996, I signed into law the Antiterrorism Act. Section 321 
of the Antiterrorism Act (18 U.S.C. 2332d) makes it a criminal 
offense for United States persons, except as provided in 
regulations issued by the Secretary of the Treasury in 
consultation with the Secretary of State, to engage in 
financial transactions with the governments of countries 
designated under section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act 
(50 U.S.C. App. 2405) as supporting international terrorism. 
United States persons who engage in such transactions are 
subject to criminal fines under title 18, United States Code, 
imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both. Because the 
Regulations already prohibited such transactions, with minor 
exceptions for transactions found to be in the public interest, 
no substantive change to the prohibitions of the Regulations 
was necessary. A copy of the amendment is attached.
    The Regulations were amended on October 21, 1996 (61 Fed. 
Reg. 54936, October 23, 1996), to implement section 4 of the 
Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as 
amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, by 
adjusting for inflation the amount of the civil monetary 
penalties that may be assessed under the Regulations. The 
Regulations, as amended, increase the maximum civil monetary 
penalty provided by law from $10,000 to $11,000 per violation.
    The amended Regulations also reflect an amendment to 18 
U.S.C. 1001 contained in section 330016(1)(L) of Public Law 
103-322; 108 Stat. 2147. The amendment strikes the $10,000 
maximum on fines imposed for fraudulent dealing with Federal 
agencies. Finally, the amendment notes the availability of 
higher criminal fines pursuant to the formulas set forth in 18 
U.S.C. 3571. A copy of the amendment is attached.
    3. During the current 6-month 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 (49) concerned requests by non-Libyan persons or 
entities to unblock transfers interdicted because of what 
appeared to be Government of Libya interests. Several 
previously issued licenses were amended to authorize 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.
    Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam applied 
for a license to receive a gift of up to $1 billion from the 
Government of Libya as well as for Minister Farrakhan to 
collect $250,000 in prize money that accompanied the Ghadafi 
Prize for Human Rights awarded to Minister Farrakhan in 
Tripoli. The application was denied on Foreign policy grounds.
    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 office worked closely with the 
banks to assure the effectiveness of interdiction software 
systems used to identify such payments. During the reporting 
period, more than 100 transactions potentially involving Libya 
were interdicted.
    5. Since my last report, OFAC collected 14 civil monetary 
penalties totaling more than $165,000 for violations of the 
U.S. sanctions against Libya. Twelve of the violations involved 
the failure of banks to block funds transfers to Libyan-owned 
or -controlled financial institutions. Two U.S. corporations 
paid OFAC penalties totaling $105,000 for export violations as 
part of global plea agreements with the Department of Justice. 
Sixty-one other cases are in active penalty processing.
    On August 7, 1996, a major U.S. exporter entered a guilty 
plea and was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the 
Western District of Kentucky for Libyan sanctions violations. 
The company and four co-conspirators were charged with aiding 
and abetting the exportation and attempted exportation of oil 
well drilling equipment to Libya through Italy in 1995 and 
1996. The company paid $3 million in criminal fines and 
aggregate criminal penalties paid by individuals totaled 
$211,000. In addition, a major U.S. manufacturer in Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin agreed to pay $2 million in criminal fines, in 
addition to the civil penalty noted above, for violation of the 
Libyan sanctions involving a commercial project in Libya. 
Numerous investigations carried over from prior reporting 
periods are continuing and new reports of violations are being 
pursued.
    6. The expenses incurred by the Federal Government in the 
6-month period from July 6, 1996, through January 5, 1997, that 
are directly attributable to the exercise of powers and 
authorities conferred by the declaration of the Libyan national 
emergency are estimated at approximately $670,000. 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.
    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 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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