1 May 1998
The Boston Globe/AP
Martin Crutsinger

Suit attacks state law penalizing business with Myanmar

In the first court challenge of a growing national trend, an industry group filed suit Thursday against a state law that penalizes companies for their overseas activities.

The National Foreign Trade Council challenged a Massachusetts law that prohibits companies doing business with Myanmar, also known as Burma, from providing goods and services to state agencies.

Massachusetts is the only state with such a law but the council said 26 cities have either passed local sanction ordinances or are considering them in an effort to pressure repressive foreign regimes.

The top targets have been Nigeria, China, Cuba and Myanmar. Also, several cities and states are considering targeting Switzerland because of its handling of Nazi gold after World War II.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Boston.

"We regard this lawsuit to be an important test case that will determine the very significant, perplexing and continuing issue concerning the constitutionality of state and local sanctions," said Frank Kittredge, president of the council, which represents 550 corporations.

"The proliferation of similar laws in states and cities throughout the country creates a problem not only for business, but for the ability of the United States to conduct a coherent foreign policy," Kittredge said.

But supporters of the Massachusetts legislation contend it has had the desired effect, prompting U.S. companies to pull out of Myanmar and paving the way for President Clinton to impose federal sanctions against the Asian nation last year.

The growing number of local ordinances has drawn opposition from the Clinton administration, which has dispatched State Department officials to various state legislatures and city councils in an effort to lobby against such proposals.

The administration's argument is that local laws impair the president's ability to send a clear, unified message on foreign policy to the rest of the world.

Most of the state and local sanctions put on the books since 1995 are modeled on economic measures taken by various local governments against South Africa's racist policies in the mid-1980s.

Massachusetts and California are the states with the largest number of localities considering trade sanction measures. The council said proposals have been introduced in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

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