The US
Congress voted yesterday to extend the ban on imports from Myanmar. The
import bans are authorized by the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act (BFDA) of
2003. Thursday’s US Congressional
resolution extended authoritization for the BFDA ban for another three years,
to July 2015. The resolution also
extended the ban itself for another year, to July 2013 (note the distinction
between the authorization for the ban and the ban itself). The ban can be renewed for another year by
another Congressional resolution before July 2013.
The US President retains the ability to terminate
the ban “upon
request of a
democratically
elected government in Burma” and when conditions in Section (3)(a)(3) of the
BFDA — progress on human rights, release of all political prisoners, freedom of
speech and the press, freedom of association, peaceful exercise of religion,
democratic governance, not designated as “a country of interest” for narcotics trafficking—have
been met. That would require the
Administration to submit a formal report to Congress on bilateral and
multilateral efforts to promote human rights and democracy in Myanmar, the
effectiveness of the trade sanctions on improving conditions in Myanmar and
furthering U.S. policy objections towards Myanmar, and the impact of the trade
sanctions on national security, economic, and foreign policy interests of the
United States.
As
I discussed earlier, the US Congress is supportive of current Obama
administration policy, but was expected to renew the BFDA. Not only is the Obama administration not
prepared to make the case for the full waiver, those in Congress who are
focused on the Burma issue would not accept that a “democratically elected
government” exists in the country and that all of the Section (3)(a)(3)
conditions have been met.
In
any event, another year of the ban should provide constructive pressure on the
Myanmar regime to continue its reform efforts, with lifting the ban a useful
incentive. It also gives companies in
Myanmar – particularly those who are not on the Specially Designated Nationals
list – time to organize and prepare themselves to re-engage with the US market. That re-engagement will take time, and I’ll have
more on this after I get back from Yangon and Naypyidaw.
