Reading Room Document

Opinion regarding a matter arising under the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945,12 U.S.C. 635 ("the Act").

In this memo, the OLC resolved a dispute between the comptroller general and the general counsel of the bank regarding the meaning of an exception under the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945. Under that Act, the Export-Import Bank––an agency authorized to do general banking business to aid in financing exports and imports between the U.S. and foreign countries––was required not to guarantee, insure, or extend credit in connection with the purchase of lease of a product from a communist country, except where president determined a transaction would be in the national interest and reported that determination to the Senate and House within 30 days. The OLC, agreeing with the general counsel of the bank, approved the bank following country-by-country (rather than transaction-by-transaction) determinations made by the president and notifying Congress of the determinations and their application to particular transactions. The OLC reached this conclusion because there had been a consistent administrative practice of country-by-country determinations by the president, and the legislation itself was unclear as to what type of determination was required.

March 21, 1974