DALLAS — Qatar Airways has just been added to the U.S. Government's Anti-Boycott Requester list, according to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) first quarterly update of said list.

The list, also known as the public list, is a "name and shame" list that notifies US individuals that they must be aware of and report any violations if dealing with any listed parties.

The list is published "to raise awareness of past impermissible boycott requests and potentially discourage listed parties from making such requests." It notifies companies, financial institutions, freight forwarders, individuals, and other U.S. persons of potential sources of certain boycott-related requests they may receive during the regular course of business."

According to the BIS update, the updated public list of entities "who have been identified as having made a boycott-related request in reports received by BIS includes 57 additions. BIS has also removed 127 entities.  

The antiboycott provisions of Part 760 of Title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R) "prohibit U.S. persons from taking certain actions with intent to comply with, further, or support an unsanctioned foreign boycott, including the Arab League boycott of Israel, and require U.S persons to report receipt of boycott-related requests."

Reasons for Being on the List

Our in-house analysts speculate that there must have been some language in some of QR contracts/purchase orders to suppliers that prohibited sourcing from, or otherwise doing business, with a U.S. ally.

For context, here are some examples from BIS of boycott requests were recently reported to the Office of Antiboycott Compliance (AOC):

Prohibited Boycott Condition in a Purchase Order:

"In the case of overseas suppliers, this order is placed subject to the suppliers being not on the Israel boycott list published by the central Arab League."

Reportable boycott condition in an importer’s purchase order:

"Goods of Israeli origin not acceptable."

Reportable boycott condition in a letter of credit:

"A signed statement from the shipping company, or its agent, stating the name, flag and nationality of the carrying vessel and confirming ... that it is permitted to enter Arab ports."

Prohibited Boycott Condition in a Contract:

"Israeli Clause: The Seller shall not supply goods or materials which have been manufactured or processed in Israel nor shall the services of any Israeli organization be used in handling or transporting the goods or materials."

While we cannot confirm any such language from any airline request at this time, we are contacting oneworld Alliance and QR for comments on the matter. Further, if QR believes it has been listed in error or would like to discuss the listing, it is able to contact OAC.

This is a developing story.