The US department of commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has published its first quarterly update of the boycott requester list.

This list notifies companies, financial institutions, freight forwarders, individuals, and other US persons of potential sources of certain boycott-related requests they may receive during the regular course of business.

Letters of credit (L/Cs) that breach antiboycott rules are specifically contemplated in the policy which came into effect in 2022 (DC World News, 31 October 2022).

US banking entities

Prohibited activities include, inter alia, implementation by US banking entities of L/Cs that include prohibited boycott-related terms or conditions and agreements by US companies to refuse to do business with a boycotted country or with blacklisted persons for boycott-related reasons.

Furnishing information about any person's business relationships with a boycotted country or with blacklisted persons is also prohibited.

Listed companies

The updated public list of entities that have been identified as having made a boycott-related request in reports received by BIS includes 57 additions. BIS has also removed 127 entities.

High profile sate-owned Gulf-based organisations added to the list in the last month include Kuwait Petroleum Company and Qatar Airways. Saudi Arabia's Ras Laffan Olefins and Aluminium Bahrain (ALBA), both of which are owned by Gulf-based state bodies, have also been added to the list.

Algeria's state oil company, Sonatrach, and several entities related to it also appear on the new list of entities. Most of these are based in Asia or the Middle East, although Siemens of Germany and Greenway Turbines of the UK also appear on the latest list.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or Coastline Solutions.