Antiboycott regulations (United States, 1976 to 1977)

United States antiboycott law uses two separate regimes to discourage or prohibit defined participation in foreign boycotts that the United States does not sanction. Commerce controls, now grounded in the Anti-Boycott Act of 2018 and implemented in 15 CFR Part 760, regulate conduct and reporting. Internal Revenue Code section 999 uses reporting and tax consequences. The regimes overlap in policy but differ in coverage, tests, administrators and consequences.

Commerce controls

The Commerce regime developed from 1970s export legislation and was recodified in 2018. It applies to defined United States persons and activities in interstate or foreign commerce. Part 760 prohibits or regulates specified conduct undertaken with intent to comply with, further or support an unsanctioned foreign boycott. Examples include certain refusals to do business, discriminatory actions, furnishing prohibited information and implementing boycott terms in letters of credit. Exceptions and regulatory examples are integral to the rule.

Part 760 also requires reports of defined boycott requests. Receipt of a request and commission of a prohibited act are different questions. Commerce administers the regime through its antiboycott compliance office and may use administrative enforcement and penalties under current statutory authorities.

Tax regime

Internal Revenue Code section 999 requires specified taxpayers to report operations connected to boycotting countries and participation in or cooperation with an international boycott. Consequences can include loss of foreign tax credit, deferral and other tax benefits under related provisions. The Internal Revenue Service administers this system through Form 5713 and associated instructions.

A transaction can therefore engage reporting or tax consequences without establishing a Commerce violation, and the reverse may also occur. Compliance analysis must test each regime separately.

Statecraft significance and boundary

The rules are a form of counter-coercive statecraft. They seek to prevent foreign governments or boycott organisations from projecting discriminatory commercial conditions through United States firms and financial instruments. Their practical effect is mediated by contract review, letter-of-credit processing, tax reporting and corporate compliance.

They are not a general prohibition on every commercial boycott, political refusal or sanctions-compliance request. The official regulatory definitions, intent requirements, exceptions and current lists control. The Commerce rules also should not be described as an OFAC sanctions programme.

Compliance sequence

A company should first identify the request, transaction, requester, country and relevant United States nexus. It should preserve the exact contractual or documentary language and determine whether the request concerns business relations, a person's protected characteristic, origin of goods, shipping, insurance or a letter of credit. Counsel then tests Part 760's prohibitions, exceptions and reporting rules separately from Form 5713 and the tax provisions. A report does not concede an unlawful act. A contractual refusal may also reflect sanctions, export controls or ordinary commercial risk, each with a different legal basis. Published Commerce settlements show administrative application, but they do not replace the regulation or bind a court as precedent.

See also

Arab League boycott of Israel and third-country firms (1945-present) · Export Administration Regulations (EAR) · Blocking statutes · Economic statecraft

Sources

• Bureau of Industry and Security, 15 CFR Part 760, checked 30 July 2026.
• Office of the Law Revision Counsel, 50 USC sections 4841 to 4843, checked 30 July 2026.
• United States Congress, Export Control Reform Act of 2018.
• Internal Revenue Service, Instructions for Form 5713, current edition checked 30 July 2026.
• Department of Commerce, 'Office of Antiboycott Compliance', checked 30 July 2026.
• Congressional Research Service, The Arab Boycott of Israel.