§2694 Limitation on Purchase of Gifts for Foreign Individuals; Report to Speaker of the House and Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate

Summary

After September 30, 1977, government money approved by Congress cannot be used to buy any physical gift for a foreign person that is worth more than "minimal value" (see 5 U.S.C. 7342(a)(5)), unless Congress approves the gift. The only exception is money from the State Department’s "Emergencies in the Diplomatic and Consular Service" account. Beginning October 1, 1977, the Secretary of State must send a yearly report to the Speaker of the House and the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The report must list gifts over minimal value that were bought with Congress-approved funds and given to foreign persons in the last fiscal year, and other gifts over minimal value given by the U.S. government that were not bought with those funds.