USC - Annual certification procedures

View all text of Part VIII [§ 2291 - § 2291n]

§ 2291j. Annual certification procedures

(a) Withholding of bilateral assistance and opposition to multilateral development assistance

(1) Bilateral assistance

(2) Multilateral assistance

(b) Certification procedures

(1) What must be certifiedSubject to subsection (d), the assistance withheld from a country pursuant to subsection (a)(1) may be obligated and expended, and the requirement of subsection (a)(2) to vote against multilateral development bank assistance to a country shall not apply, if the President determines and certifies to the Congress, at the time of the submission of the report required by section 2291h(a) of this title, that—

(A) during the previous year the country has cooperated fully with the United States, or has taken adequate steps on its own, to achieve full compliance with the goals and objectives established by the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances; or

(B) for a country that would not otherwise qualify for certification under subparagraph (A), the vital national interests of the United States require that the assistance withheld pursuant to subsection (a)(1) be provided and that the United States not vote against multilateral development bank assistance for that country pursuant to subsection (a)(2).

(2) Considerations regarding cooperationIn making the determination described in paragraph (1)(A), the President shall consider the extent to which the country has—

(A) met the goals and objectives of the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, including action on such issues as illicit cultivation, production, distribution, sale, transport and financing, and money laundering, asset seizure, extradition, mutual legal assistance, law enforcement and transit cooperation, precursor chemical control, and demand reduction;

(B) accomplished the goals described in an applicable bilateral narcotics agreement with the United States or a multilateral agreement; and

(C) taken legal and law enforcement measures to prevent and punish public corruption, especially by senior government officials, that facilitates the production, processing, or shipment of narcotic and psychotropic drugs and other controlled substances, or that discourages the investigation or prosecution of such acts.

(3) Information to be included in national interest certificationIf the President makes a certification with respect to a country pursuant to paragraph (1)(B), the President shall include in such certification—

(A) a full and complete description of the vital national interests placed at risk if United States bilateral assistance to that country is terminated pursuant to this section and multilateral development bank assistance is not provided to such country; and

(B) a statement weighing the risk described in subparagraph (A) against the risks posed to the vital national interests of the United States by the failure of such country to cooperate fully with the United States in combating narcotics or to take adequate steps to combat narcotics on its own.

(d) Congressional review

(e) Denial of assistance for countries decertifiedIf the President does not make a certification under subsection (b) with respect to a country or the Congress enacts a joint resolution disapproving such certification, then until such time as the conditions specified in subsection (f) are satisfied—

(1) funds may not be obligated for United States assistance for that country, and funds previously obligated for United States assistance for that country may not be expended for the purpose of providing assistance for that country; and

(2) the requirement to vote against multilateral development bank assistance pursuant to subsection (a)(2) shall apply with respect to that country, without regard to the date specified in that subsection.

(f) RecertificationSubsection (e) shall apply to a country described in that subsection until—

(1) the President, at the time of submission of the report required by section 2291h(a) of this title, makes a certification under subsection (b)(1)(A) or (b)(1)(B) with respect to that country, and the Congress does not enact a joint resolution under subsection (d) disapproving the determination of the President contained in that certification; or

(2) the President, at any other time, makes the certification described in subsection (b)(1)(B) with respect to that country, except that this paragraph applies only if either—

(A) the President also certifies that—

(i) that country has undergone a fundamental change in government, or

(ii) there has been a fundamental change in the conditions that were the reason—(I) why the President had not made a certification with respect to that country under subsection (b)(1)(A), or(II) if he had made such a certification and the Congress enacted a joint resolution disapproving the determination contained in the certification, why the Congress enacted that joint resolution; or

(B) the Congress enacts a joint resolution approving the determination contained in the certification under subsection (b)(1)(B).

Any certification under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) shall discuss the justification for the certification.

(g) Senate procedures

(h) Determining major drug-transit and major illicit drug producing countries

(Pub. L. 87–195, pt. I, § 490, as added Pub. L. 102–583, § 5(a), Nov. 2, 1992, 106 Stat. 4924; amended Pub. L. 103–447, title I, § 101(g)(1), Nov. 2, 1994, 108 Stat. 4692; Pub. L. 104–66, title I, § 1112(d), Dec. 21, 1995, 109 Stat. 724; Pub. L. 109–177, title VII, § 722(b), Mar. 9, 2006, 120 Stat. 268.)