883.5151/50: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Egypt (Kirk)
543. Your 1496, September 30, 6 p.m., and 1500, October 1, 1 p.m. For your guidance in possible future discussions with the Egyptian authorities85 concerning the requirements for declaring holdings of dollar currency and securities, the following is the Department’s understanding with respect to the exemptions granted to American nationals residing in the United Kingdom:
American nationals residing in the United Kingdom and not also possessing British nationality are exempt from declaring their securities whether acquired before or after the date on which the Defense (Finance) Regulations became effective. This does not include securities which were acquired after that date from a person affected by the regulations, or those which were acquired from or in place of balances which are not exempt from surrender according to the regulations hereinafter defined. If it is desired to export from the United Kingdom any securities, it is necessary to obtain permission to export in the usual way and the authorities must be assured that the applicant has been exempted under the arrangement permitting American [Page 340] citizens to retain their securities. American nationals are also not required to surrender foreign currency balances which they acquired before the date on which the regulations were made effective, nor balances which they acquired after that date provided (a) that the acquisition of these balances has not been in contravention of the Defense (Finance) Regulations, and, particularly, that it was not the result of the sale of sterling balances for which permission is necessary, and (b) that the foreign currency balances were not acquired in the course of current trade or similar transactions.
It will be noted that the exemptions apply only to individuals and not to business enterprises.
- No record of further discussion of this subject has been found in the Department files.↩