740.00111A Financial/90

The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Beirut (Palmer)

Sir: The receipt is acknowledged of your despatch No. 464 of January 27, 1940,1 in which a clarification is requested of the present status of Syria under the Neutrality Act of 1939.2

There are enclosed, for your information, a copy of the Neutrality Act of 1939, a copy of an analysis2a of the requirements of certain of the provisions of this Act, and copies of the President’s Proclamations of November 4, 1939,3 issued pursuant to certain provisions of the Act.

The term “France”, as used in the President’s Proclamation of November 4, 1939, making the provisions of the Neutrality Act applicable to that country, is considered to include all French colonies and protectorates and all territories mandated to France except the Class A mandate, Syria (including Lebanon). Accordingly, the provisions of the Neutrality Act do not in general apply at the present time to exports to Syria. Depending upon the manner in which shipment is made, however, there are certain provisions of the Neutrality Act which may, in one way or another, have some effect on shipments to Syria. For example, the provisions of Section 2 of the Act relating to transfer of title are applicable to shipments of goods consigned to Syria if shipment is routed via a belligerent port or territory not within an excepted area. This fact may account for the receipt by importers in Syria of the conflicting information referred to in the despatch under acknowledgment.

With reference to the extension of credit in connection with purchases made by or on behalf of the French Army stationed in the Levant, attention is invited to that provision of Section 7 of the Act which, as made applicable to France by the above-mentioned Proclamation, prohibits the extension of any credit (other than necessary [Page 891] credits accruing in connection with the transmission of telegraph, cable, wireless, and telephone services) to the French Government, to any political subdivision thereof, or to any person acting for or on behalf of the French Government or any political subdivision thereof. Purchases made by private firms in Syria, on their own behalf, would not be affected by this credit provision of the Act.

There is enclosed, for your further information, a copy of a memorandum dated February 8, 1940,3a prepared by an officer of the Department on this general subject.

Very truly yours,

For the Secretary of State:
A. A. Berle, Jr.
  1. Not printed.
  2. 54 Stat. 4.
  3. Not attached to file copy of this document.
  4. Department of State Bulletin, November 4, 1939, p. 453, or 54 Stat. (pt. 2) 2671.
  5. Not attached to file copy of this document.