PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Secretary of State may waive certain penalties or restrictions against a country. The Secretary can do this if the country has fixed the abduction cases that caused the penalties, has stopped a pattern of not following the rules, or if U.S. national security needs the waiver. On the same day the Secretary uses this waiver, the Secretary must tell the right congressional committees and give a detailed explanation. That explanation must say what steps the country took to resolve abductions or to stop noncompliance. The waiver decision must also be published in the Federal Register or put on the State Department website, unless publishing it would harm U.S. national security; in that case the Secretary can limit what is published the same way the President can limit similar findings.

Title 22, §9124

Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general

Subject to subsection (b), the Secretary of State may waive the application of any of the actions described in subsections (d) and (e) of section 9122 of this title with respect to a country if the Secretary determines and notifies the appropriate congressional committees that—

(1)the government of such country—

(A)has satisfactorily resolved the abduction cases giving rise to the application of any of such actions; or

(B)has ended such country’s pattern of noncompliance; or

(2)the national security interest of the United States requires the exercise of such waiver authority.

(b)Congressional notification

Not later than the date on which the Secretary of State exercises the waiver authority under subsection (a), the Secretary shall—

(1)notify the appropriate congressional committees of such waiver; and

(2)provide such committees with a detailed justification for such waiver, including an explanation of the steps the noncompliant government has taken—

(A)to resolve abductions cases; or

(B)to end its pattern of noncompliance.

(c)Publication in Federal Register

Subject to subsection (d), the Secretary of State shall ensure that each waiver determination under this section— (1)

(2)is posted on the Department of State website.

(d)Limited disclosure of information

The Secretary of State may limit the publication of information under subsection (c) in the same manner and to the same extent as the President may limit the publication of findings and determinations described in section 2414(c) of this title, if the Secretary determines that the publication of such information would be harmful to the national security of the United States and would not further the purposes of this chapter.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (d), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 113–150, Aug. 8, 2014, 126 Stat. 1807, known as the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of 2014, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 9101 of this title and Tables.

§9124 Waiver by the Secretary of State