Congress Approves Renewal of Burma Sanctions

July 1, 2004

The House of Representatives and the Senate have passed a resolution to renew for an additional year the current restrictions on imports from Burma ("Myanmar").  The President will now decide whether to renew these restrictions. 

The source of these import restrictions, the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003, was enacted on July 28, 2003 to impose various sanctions against the current government of Burmain response to its anti-democratic and repressive activities.  Last year, Customs issued an updated administrative message via the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) advising the importing community on implementation of the ban on importation of Burma-origin merchandise.  The administrative message also references license requirements of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

These import sanctions against Burma parallel various other export and financial measures the President undertook on May 20, 1997 as part of the National Emergency With Respect to Burma.  In a Federal Register Notice on May 17, 2004, the President extended these measures for another year.