810.24/284a

The Chief of the Division of Exports and Requirements (Ravndal) to the Assistant Director in Charge of the Office of Exports, Board of Economic Warfare (Lazo)

My Dear Mr. Lazo: Replies from fifteen of our diplomatic missions have now been received in response to the circular airgram of June 7, 1943,22 in which the Board requested that the agreement of the country agencies be secured to the, “licensing of any material outside of allocated material without Import Recommendations provided such materials are shipped only after all available materials covered by Import Recommendations have been shipped.” Copies of these communications are enclosed.23

These replies indicate that in only two instances, Honduras and Panama, have the country agency unqualifiedly approved the Board’s proposal. In the thirteen other replies very definite objections have been raised to this proposal.

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In most of these cases the country agency has pointed out that the licensing of export license applications unaccompanied by Import Recommendations would undermine the control that has been established in the various countries pursuant to the adoption of the decentralization plan. They indicate that such action would discredit the control machinery that is now just beginning to work smoothly and that the general result would be one of confusion among the importers. They state that with this loss of complete control they would no longer be able to program shipping or prevent stockpiling for speculation. In short, the country agencies indicate that they must have complete control of imports in order to effect a fair and impartial distribution of materials, and that anything short of this is a direct refutation of the objectives of decentralization. Moreover, the missions indicate that licensing without Import Recommendations which normally would be screened in the field might well result in the delivery of goods to undesirable consignees.

To meet a possible easy shipping situation, most of the replies indicate that the country agencies believe that their present rate of certification is sufficient to provide for a backlog of several months tonnage. It is indicated that in most instances the country agencies have increased their rate of certification at the rate of three months’ additional target tonnage. Moreover, importers have been urged to telegraph their orders along with the numbers of their Import Recommendations in order that exporters may immediately file license applications.

It now appears imperative that the country agencies receive assurances from the Board regarding its future action in view of the replies they have made to the Board’s proposal.

Sincerely yours,

C. M. Ravndal
  1. June 7, 6:10 p.m., p. 117.
  2. Ten of the fifteen replies not printed. For the others, see airgram No. A–218, June 16, from the Ambassador in El Salvador, p. 215; airgram No. A–280, June 19, 11 a.m., from the Ambassador in Haiti, p. 227; airgram No. A–259, June 11, 4:25 p.m., from the Chargé in Honduras, p. 232; airgram No. A–277, June 30, 8:30 a.m., from the Ambassador in Nicaragua, p. 263; and telegram No. 855, June 16, noon, from the Ambassador in Peru, p. 277.