World ECR | BIS updates list of boycott requesters

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released the second quarter update to its boycott requester list, which is used to notify “companies, financial institutions, freight forwarders, individuals and other U.S. persons of potential sources of boycotts.” They may receive certain boycott-related requests in the ordinary course of business.

The updated list includes 36 new entities “that have been identified in reports received by BIS as making boycott-related requests,” the agency said in an Oct. 1 press release. The names of 21 entities were said to have been removed.

Being on the requesters list does not restrict U.S. persons from conducting transactions with parties on the list. Rather, it is a notification that these parties are more likely to make reportable boycott-related requests. As required by Section 760.5 of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”), each entity on the list has been reported to BIS via the Boycott Request Reporting Form.

“The boycott requester list has a significant impact on both anti-boycott compliance and anti-boycott enforcement,” said Matthew Axelrod, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement. “The requestor list has also changed behavior—more than 20 foreign entities have certified to us since the list was implemented that they have stopped imposing boycott-related requirements on transactions with U.S. persons.”

We encourage U.S. persons to carefully review transaction documents from all sources, especially those involving listed parties, to identify language that may be associated with boycotts and to determine whether U.S. person recipients have reporting requirements to BIS.

Of the examples of boycott requests BIS has provided in the past, the vast majority have come from Islamic countries, directing that goods originating in Israel not be accepted or that the goods must not show a connection to Israel.

Qatar Airways made the list in June, when BIS released the list’s first quarterly update.

The 21 parties removed from the list of requesters come from many countries, including Switzerland, Japan and Singapore, but most are from Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Malaysia and Bangladesh.