Certification for Major Illicit Drug Producing and Transit Countries
Overview
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (FAA), requires the President every year to submit to Congress an annual report identifying each country determined by the President to be a major drug-transit country or major illicit drug producing country. The President is also required in that report to identify any country on the majors list that has "failed demonstrably. . . to make substantial efforts" during the previous 12 months to adhere to international counternarcotics agreements and to take certain counternarcotics measures set forth in U.S. law. U.S. assistance under the current foreign operations appropriations act may not be provided to any country designated as having "failed demonstrably" unless the President determines that the provision of such assistance is vital to the U.S. national interests or unless the President certifies that the country, at any time after the President's initial report to Congress, has made "substantial efforts" to comply with the counternarcotics conditions in the legislation. This prohibition does not affect humanitarian, counternarcotics, and certain other types of assistance that are authorized to be provided notwithstanding any other provision of law.
A major illicit drug producing country is one in which:
(A) 1,000 hectares or more of illicit opium poppy is cultivated or harvested during a year;
(B) 1,000 hectares or more of illicit coca is cultivated or harvested during a year; or
(C) 5,000 hectares or more of illicit cannabis is cultivated or harvested during a year, unless the President determines that such illicit cannabis production does not significantly affect the United States.
A major drug-transit country is one:
(A) that is a significant direct source of illicit narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances significantly affecting the United States; or
(B) through which are transported such drugs or substances.
The Majors List
The Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) at the Department of State initiates the certification process. Based upon the "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report" (INCSR) produced by INL each March, and also upon input from other U.S. government sources, a proposed Majors List is compiled and presented to the Secretary of State for consideration.
The Secretary provides recommendations to the President, who makes the final determinations regarding inclusion on the Majors List. The White House transmits the list to the Chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Appropriations Committees.
On September 14, 2007, the President approved and sent to Congress the Majors List for 2008. The 20 countries included were: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.
Of these 20 countries, Burma and Venezuela were "decertified", or found to have "failed demonstrably" during the previous 12 months to adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements and take the measures set forth in the Foreign Assistance Act. The President also determined, however, that support for programs to aid Venezuela's democratic institutions is vital to the national interests of the United States.
Changes to the Certification Process
Last year, pursuant to The Combat Methamphetamine Enforcement Act (CMEA) (The USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act 2005, Title VII, P.L. 109-177), the INCSR was expanded to include reporting on the five countries that export the largest amounts of methamphetamine precursor chemicals, as well as the five countries importing these chemicals and which have the highest rate of diversion of the chemicals for methamphetamine production. This expanded reporting, which also appears in this year's INCSR and will appear in each subsequent annual INCSR report, also includes additional information on efforts to control methamphetamine precursor chemicals, as well as estimates of legitimate demand for these methamphetamine precursors, prepared by most parties to the 1988 UN Drug Convention and submitted to the International Narcotics Control Board. The CMEA also requires a Presidential determination by March 1 of each year on whether the five countries that legally exported and the five countries that legally imported the largest amount of precursor chemicals have cooperated with the United States to prevent these substances from being used to produce methamphetamine or have taken adequate steps on their own to achieve full compliance with the 1988 UN Drug Control Convention.
Source: International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR)
Issued by the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), the INCSR provides the factual basis for the President's certification determinations. It is located online at the State Department's website along with the letter from the President to the Congress. http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2008/
