ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT HAS "NO PRACTICAL APPLICATION"

UNCLAS ALGIERS 000848 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA, EB, L DEPARTMENT PASS TO USTR COMMERCE FOR BIS/OAC E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KBCT ABLD PHUM PIRF AG SUBJECT: ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT HAS "NO PRACTICAL APPLICATION" IN ALGERIA REF: STATE 66895 ¶1. Algerian law does not contain specific codifications or references to the Arab League Boycott and post is not aware of any GoA communiques on the issue. While the primary boycott is informally recognized by virtue of Algeria's membership in the Arab League and the stigma still attached to doing direct business with Israel, there is no GoA treaty or convention mandating conformity or complicity with, or participation in, the boycott. Furthermore, knowledgeable Embassy contacts indicate that Algerian firms can and do readily acquire Israeli products that have been stripped of Israeli markings from intermediaries in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, or elsewhere. (Note: These tend to be specialized goods such as irrigation and desalination equipment and parts. End note.) As a result, an Embassy contact at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs underscored that the boycott has "no practical application" in Algeria. ¶2. There is nothing to suggest GoA adherence to the secondary or tertiary aspects of the boycott. The website of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise categorically states that Algeria does not enforce the secondary boycott. As evidence of this, numerous American firms that operate in Algeria have operations in Israel, and post has no record of U.S. firms facing boycott-related obstacles. ¶3. Algeria does not maintain a boycott office. At one time, there was a joint boycott enforcement commission made up of staff from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Commerce that met periodically. However, as a clear demonstration of the commission's irrelevance, contacts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not recall the last time the commission met and denied any MFA role in boycott enforcement. ERDMAN