Executive Order 12920—Prohibiting Certain Transactions With Respect to Haiti

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. ), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq. ), section 5 of the United Nations Participation Act of 1945, as amended (22 U.S.C. 287c), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and in order to take additional steps with respect to the actions and policies of the de facto regime in Haiti and the national emergency described and declared in Executive Order No. 12775, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. The following are prohibited, except to the extent provided in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses which may hereafter be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding the existence of any rights or obligations conferred or imposed by any international agreement or any contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the effective date of this order: (a) Any payment or transfer of funds or other financial or investment assets or credits to Haiti from or through the United States, or to or through the United States from Haiti, except for: (i) payments and transfers for the conduct of activities in Haiti of the United States Government, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, or foreign diplomatic missions; (ii) payments and transfers between the United States and Haiti for the conduct of activities in Haiti of nongovernmental organizations engaged in the provision in Haiti of essential humanitarian assistance as authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury; (iii) payments and transfers from a United States person to any close relative of the remitter or of the remitter's spouse who is resident in Haiti, provided that such payments do not exceed $50 per month to any one household, and that neither the de facto regime in Haiti nor any person designated by the Secretary of the Treasury as a blocked individual or entity of Haiti is a beneficiary of the remittance; (iv) reasonable amounts of funds carried by travelers to or from Haiti to cover their travel-related expense; and (v) payments and transfers incidental to shipments to Haiti of food, medicine, medical supplies, and informational materials exempt from the export prohibitions of this order; (b) The sale, supply, or exportation by United States persons or from the United States, or using U.S.-registered vessels or aircraft, of any goods, technology, or services, regardless of origin, to Haiti, or for the purpose of any business carried on in or operated from Haiti, or any activity by United States persons or in the United States that promotes such sale, supply, or exportation, other than the sale, supply, or exportation of: (i) informational materials, such as books and other publications, needed for the free flow of information; or (ii) medicines and medical supplies, as authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury, and rice, beans, sugar, wheat flour, cooking oil, corn, corn flour, milk, and edible tallow, provided that neither the de facto regime in Haiti nor any person designated by the Secretary of the Treasury as a blocked individual or entity of Haiti is a direct or indirect party to the transaction; or (iii) donations of food, medicine, and medical supplies intended to relieve human suffering; and (c) Any transaction by United States persons that evades or avoids, or has the purpose of evading or avoiding, or attempts to violate, any of the prohibitions set forth in this order. Sec. 2. For the purposes of this order, the definitions contained in section 3 of Executive Order No. 12779 apply to the terms used in this order. Sec. 3. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to take such actions, including the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to me by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the United Nations Participation Act, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this order. The Secretary of the Treasury may redelegate any of these functions to other officers and agencies of the United States Government. All agencies of the United States Government are hereby directed to take all appropriate measures within their authority to carry out the provisions of this order, including suspension or termination of licenses or other authorizations in effect as of the effective date of this order. Sec. 4. Nothing contained in this order shall create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by any party against the United States, its agencies or instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or any other person. Sec. 5. (a) This order shall take effect at 11:59 a.m., eastern daylight time on June 10, 1994. (b) This order shall be transmitted to the Congress and published in the Federal Register. William J. Clinton The White House, June 10, 1994. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 3:40 p.m., June 10, 1994]