International Emergency Economic Powers Act

International Emergency Economic Powers Act
Long title	An Act with respect to the powers of the President in time of war or national emergency.
Acronyms (colloquial)	IEEPA
Enacted by	the 95th United States Congress
Effective	December 28, 1977
Citations
Public law	95-223
Statutes at Large	91 Stat. 1625
Codification
Titles amended	50 U.S.C.: War and National Defense
U.S.C. sections created	50 U.S.C. ch. 35 § 1701 et seq.
Legislative history
	Introduced in the House as H.R. 7738 by Jonathan B. Bingham (D-NY) on June 13, 1977; Committee consideration by House Foreign Affairs, Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Passed the House on July 12, 1977 (passed); Passed the Senate on October 11, 1977 (passed) with amendment; House agreed to Senate amendment on November 30, 1977 (agreed) with further amendment; Senate agreed to House amendment on December 7, 1977 (agreed); Signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 28, 1977;
United States Supreme Court cases
	Dames & Moore v. Regan

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), Title II of Pub. L. 95–223, 91 Stat. 1626, enacted October 28, 1977, is a United States federal law authorizing the president to regulate international commerce after declaring a national emergency in response to any unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States.^[1]

The H.R. 7738 legislation was signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 28, 1977.^[2]

Provisions

In the United States Code, the IEEPA is Title 50, §§1701–1707.^[3] The IEEPA authorizes the president to declare the existence of an "unusual and extraordinary threat... to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States" that originates "in whole or substantial part outside the United States."^[4] It further authorizes the president, after such a declaration, to block transactions and freeze assets to deal with the threat.^[5] In the event of an actual attack on the United States, the president can also confiscate property connected with a country, group, or person that aided in the attack.^[6]

The IEEPA falls under the provisions of the National Emergencies Act (NEA), which means that an emergency declared under the act must be renewed annually to remain in effect.

History

Curtailment of emergency executive powers

Congress enacted the IEEPA in 1977 to clarify and restrict presidential power during times of declared national emergency under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 ("TWEA"). Under TWEA, starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, presidents had the power to declare emergencies without limiting their scope or duration, without citing the relevant statutes, and without congressional oversight.^[7] The Supreme Court in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer limited what a president could do in such an emergency, but did not limit the emergency declaration power itself. A 1973 Senate investigation found (in Senate Report 93-549) that four declared emergencies remained in effect: the 1933 banking crisis with respect to the hoarding of gold,^[8] a 1950 emergency with respect to the Korean War,^[9] a 1970 emergency regarding the postal workers strike, and a 1971 emergency in response to the government's deteriorating economic and fiscal conditions.^[10] Congress terminated these emergencies with the National Emergencies Act, and then passed the IEEPA to restore the emergency power in a limited, overseeable form.

Unlike TWEA, IEEPA was drafted to permit presidential emergency declarations only in response to threats originating outside the United States.^[11] Beginning with Jimmy Carter in response to the Iran Hostage Crisis, presidents have invoked IEEPA to safeguard U.S. national security interests by freezing or "blocking" assets of belligerent foreign governments,^[12] or certain foreign nationals abroad.^[13]

Since 9/11

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13224 under IEEPA to block the assets of terrorist organizations.^[14] The President delegated blocking authority to federal agencies led by the U.S. Treasury. In October 2001, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act which, in part, enhanced IEEPA asset blocking provisions under §1702(a)(1)(B) to permit the blocking of assets during the "pendency of an investigation." This statutory change gave the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control the power to block assets without the need to provide evidence of the blocking subject's wrongdoing nor to permit the blocking subject a chance to effectively respond to the allegations in court.^[15] Executing these blocking actions led to a series of legal cases challenging federal authority to indefinitely prevent charitable organizations from accessing their assets held in the United States.^[16]

On May 30, 2019, the White House announced that President Donald Trump would use IEEPA powers to introduce tariffs on Mexican exports in response to the national security threat of illegal immigration from Mexico into the United States.^[17]

As part of an ongoing trade war with China, on August 24, 2019, Trump tweeted that he “hereby ordered” US companies to start looking at alternatives to China on the basis of claimed powers under IEEPA.^[18]^[19] Trump, however, did not formally declare an emergency as required by IEEPA.

Litigation

Notable cases

Dames & Moore v. Regan
KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development v. Geithner^[20]

Violations

In 1983, financier Marc Rich was accused of violating the act by trading in Iranian oil during the Iran hostage crisis. He was one of many people pardoned by President Bill Clinton in his last days in office.^[21]
On August 23, 2006, Javed Iqbal was arrested through the U.S. Department of the Treasury with a charge of conspiracy to violate the IEEPA for airing material produced by al-Manar (The Beacon) in New York City during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.^[22]
On December 16, 2009, it was announced that the U.S. Dept. of Justice reached a settlement with Credit Suisse over accusations that the bank assisted residents of IEEPA sanctioned countries to wire money in violation of the Act from 1995 to 2006. The settlement resulted in Credit Suisse forfeiting $536 million.^[23]
On July 16, 2020, a UAE-based firm, Essentra FZE Company Limited, admitted of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and defying the United States sanctions on North Korea. The firm also agreed to pay a fine of $665,112 to the United States Department of Justice.^[24]

List of emergencies

Current

As of 2019^[update], the following IEEPA emergencies are active.^[25]

Starting year	Target country/region	Executive order	Basis of emergency	Scope
1979	Iran	12170	Iran hostage crisis	Property of the government of Iran and its instrumentalities
1994	Worldwide	12938	Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction	Property of persons that engage in or support proliferation
1995	Iran	12957	Actions and policies of the government	Various forms of commerce involving Iran
1995	Middle East	12947	Terrorist violence to disrupt the peace process	Property of Specially Designated Terrorists committing or supporting such violence
1995	Colombia	12978	Foreign narcotics traffic	Property of traffickers and their material supporters
1997	Sudan	13067	Actions and policies of the government	US-Sudan commerce generally
2001	Western Balkans	13219	Extremist violence and actions that obstruct the Dayton Agreement or UNSC Resolution 1244	Property of persons engaged in or providing support for such activities
2001	Worldwide	13222	Expiration of the Export Administration Act	Continuation of authority for all regulations previously authorized under the Act
2001	Worldwide	13224	Threat of terrorist attacks on the US and its nationals	Property of Specially Designated Global Terrorists that commit, threaten to commit or support terrorism, including al-Qaeda
2003	Zimbabwe	13288	Actions and policies of members of the government	Property of 77 government officials
2003	Iraq	13303	Obstacles to reconstruction	Property of officials and associates of the Saddam Hussein government, and of persons undermining stabilization efforts with violence.
2004	Syria	13338	Various aggressive actions of the government	Property of persons involved in those actions
2006	Belarus	13405	Actions and policies of members of the government	Property of government officials and other persons involved in human rights abuses
2006	Democratic Republic of the Congo	13413	Violence and atrocities that threaten regional stability	Property of persons contributing to said violence
2007	Lebanon	13441	Actions to undermine the government	Various forms of commerce involving persons engaged in such actions
2008	North Korea	13466	Actions and policies of the government	Various forms of commerce involving North Korea and its nationals
2010	Somalia	13536	Deterioration of the security situation	Property of persons that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Somalia
2011	Libya	13566	Extreme measures taken during the Libyan Civil War	Property of officials and associates of the Muammar Gaddafi government
2011	Worldwide	13581	Activities of transnational criminal organizations	Property of persons involved in such organizations
2012	Yemen	13611	Actions and policies that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Yemen	Property of persons engaged in such actions.
2014	Ukraine and Russia	13660	Actions and policies of persons engaged in the Ukraine crisis	Property of such persons.
2014	Central African Republic	13667	Central African Republic conflict (2012–present)	Property of persons contributing to the conflict.
2014	South Sudan	13664	Activities that threaten regional peace, security, or stability	Property of persons engaged in such activities.
2015	Venezuela	13692	Human rights violations	Property of persons responsible for such violations.
2015	Worldwide	13694	Significant malicious cyber-enabled activities	Property of persons responsible for or complicit in such activities.
2015	Burundi	13712	2015 Burundian unrest	Property of persons engaged in destabilizing activities.
2017	Worldwide	13818	Serious human rights abuse and corruption	Property of designated persons engaged in such activities
2018	Worldwide	13848	Risk of foreign interference in US elections	Property of foreign persons determined to have participated in such interference
2018	Nicaragua	13851	Human rights abuses, destabilization and corruption under the Daniel Ortega government	Property of persons engaged in such activities
2019	Worldwide	13873	Vulnerabilities in information and communications technology and services	Technology and services connected with a foreign adversary that pose a risk to the United States
2020	Worldwide	13928	International Criminal Court investigations of US and allied personnel	Property of persons conducting or supporting such investigations; entry of such persons and their families into the United States

Past

Afghanistan (1999–2002 for harboring al-Qaeda)
Côte d'Ivoire (2006–2016 regarding the First Ivorian Civil War)
Haiti (1991–1994)
Iraq (1990–2004 for invading Kuwait)
Kuwait (1990–1991, while occupied by Iraq)
Liberia (2001–2015 directed against President Charles G. Taylor)
Libya (1986–2004 for sponsoring terrorism)
Myanmar (1997–2016 against the policies of the military government)
Nicaragua (1985–1990 for aggressive activities in Central America)
Panama (1988–1990 for military coup by Manuel Noriega)
Russia (2000–2012 to support the Megatons to Megawatts Program)
Serbia and Montenegro (1992–2003 for sponsoring Serb nationalist groups)
Sierra Leone (2001–2004 for human rights violations)
South Africa (1985–1991 for maintaining apartheid)
UNITA (1993–2003 for interfering with UN peacekeeping efforts)

References

^ Casey, Christopher A.; et al. (March 20, 2019). The International Emergency Economic Powers Act: Origins, Evolution, and Use (PDF). Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
^ Peters, Gerhard; Woolley, John T. "Jimmy Carter: "Presidential War Powers Bill Statement on Signing H.R. 7738 Into Law.," December 28, 1977". The American Presidency Project. University of California – Santa Barbara.
^ 50 U.S. Code Chapter 35 – International Emergency Economic Powers| LII / Legal Information Institute. Law.cornell.edu. Retrieved on 2014-06-16.
^ 50 U.S.C. §1701(a)
^ 50 U.S.C. §1702(a)(1)(B)
^ 50 U.S.C. §1702(a)(1)(C)
^ H. Rep. No. 95-459, at 7 (1977) "[the TWEA] has become essentially an unlimited grant of authority for the President to exercise, at his discretion, broad powers in both the domestic and international economic arena, without congressional review. These powers may be exercised so long as there is an unterminated declaration of national emergency on the books, whether or not the situation with respect to which the emergency was declared bears any relationship to the situation with respect to which the President is using the authorities"
^ Executive Order 6102
^ Executive Proclamation 2914, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=13684
^ S. Rep. No. 93-549, at 2 (1973), http://www.ncrepublic.org/images/lib/SenateReport93_549.pdf
^ 50 U.S.C. §1701(a)
^ Executive Order 12170, 44 C.F.R. 65,729.
^ Executive Order 12978, 60 C.F.R. 54,579 (1995) (blocking the assets of certain Colombian narcotics traffickers).
^ Executive Order 13224, Sec. 1(a), http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2001-09-25/pdf/01-24205.pdf
^ KindHearts v. Geithner, 647 F. Supp. 2d 857, 866, ND Ohio 2009, https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10931539635102900344&hl=en&as_sdt=2,14&as_vis=1
^ See e.g., id.
^ "Trump to hit Mexico with tariffs to halt migrants". BBC News. 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
^ Baker, Peter; Bradsher, Keith (2019-08-24). "Trump Asserts He Can Force U.S. Companies to Leave China". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
^ Saha, Sagatom; Feng, Ashley (April 1, 2020). "Global Supply Chains, Economic Decoupling, and U.S.-China Relations, Part 1: The View from the United States". Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved 2020-04-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ KindHearts v. Geithner, supra
^ USDOJ: Office of the Pardon Attorney: Clemency Recipients. Justice.gov. Retrieved on 2014-06-16.
^ Williams, Timothy; Rashbaum, William K. (2006-08-25). "New York Man Charged With Enabling Hezbollah Television Broadcasts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
^ "Credit Suisse Agrees to Forfeit $536 Million in Connection with Violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and New York State Law". www.justice.gov. 2009-12-16. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
^ "UAE Company Admits to North Korean Sanctions Violations and Defrauding the U.S. Goverment, Agrees to Pay $665,000". US Department of Justice. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
^ U.S. Treasury, Office of Foreign Asset Control, Sanctions Programs and Country Information http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/Programs.aspx