On April 8, 2021, the Department of the Treasury issued its most recent listing of foreign countries requiring cooperation with an international boycott. The countries on this list has been fairly static for years; however, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been removed due to the country’s issuance of Federal Decree-Law No. 4 of 2020, which repealed its law mandating a boycott of Israel and, according to Treasury, “the subsequent actions that the UAE government has taken to implement a new policy.”

Remaining on the list are the following countries that continue to participate in the boycott of Israel: Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen.

U.S. companies conducting business in these listed countries are reminded that the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is charged with administering and enforcing the antiboycott laws under the Export Administration Act. These antiboycott laws were adopted to encourage and, in some circumstances, require U.S. companies to refuse to participate in foreign boycotts that the U.S. government does not sanction. According to BIS, the laws “have the effect of preventing U.S. firms from being used to implement foreign policies of other nations which run counter to U.S. policy.” Together, the Department of the Treasury (via the 1976 Tax Reform Act) and BIS’s Office of Antiboycott Compliance have oversight as to efforts to counteract the participation of U.S. persons and companies in other countries’ economic boycotts.