Iraq Investment and Reconstruction Task Force

State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Descriptions

November 23, 2004

The Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals has provided fact sheets that describe its SOEs in the textiles, construction materials, engineering industries, food & drugs, industrial services, and chemical & petrochemical sectors.

New and Improved FAQs on Traveling and Doing Business in Iraq

Updated November 18, 2004

Change in Licensing of Sensitive U.S. Exports and Reexports to Iraq

July 30, 2004

On July 30, the President signed an Executive Order terminating the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12722, revoking it and certain related Executive Orders. Among other things, the termination of the national emergency ends the Department of the Treasury's authority to maintain export controls pursuant to those Executive Orders. By virtue of this action, export licensing jurisdiction reverted from the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). Also on July 30, 2004, BIS published a rule defining the new licensing policy and requirements for Iraq. For more information, please visit Treasury's OFAC website and Commerce's BIS website. You may also contact BIS' Office of Exporter Services, at tel. (202) 482-4811. On August 26, BIS and Vastera co-sponsored an audio conference on the rule change for exporting and re-exporting goods and materials to Iraq. That conference is available here in MP3 format (44MB, approximately one hour long).

USDOC Iraq Private Sector Development Briefing

August 04, 2004, Washington, DC

On August 04, the U.S. Department of Commerce hosted an Iraq Private Sector Development briefing. The featured speaker was Michael Fleischer, who recently returned from his tour in Baghdad as Director of Private Sector Development for the former Coalition Provisional Authority. The video of Mr. Fleisher's presentation (83MB Windows Media format, Microsoft Windows Media Player Required) is available through this website.

(Note: If you experience difficulty with the video, please adjust the buffering option in Windows Media Player by clicking the "Tools" menu item, choosing "Options," clicking on the "Performance" tab and then set the "Network Buffering" to 5 seconds.)

Contracting Regulations Seminars

June 2004

The Iraq Investment and Reconstruction Task Force, in collaboration with U.S. Export Assistance Centers (USEACs) and the U.S. Army, conducted a series of video conferences to help U.S. companies assess how the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) applies to their product/service in Iraq. A/S Lash made brief remarks at the start of each seminar followed by the keynote presentation by Mr. John Bellizan, Chief of the Contract Support Office with the Army's Project and Contracting Office (PCO). The video (59MB Windows Media format, Microsoft Windows Media Player Required) is available along with Mr. Bellizan's presentation (700KB PDF only).

(Note: If you experience difficulty with the video, please adjust the buffering option in Windows Media Player by clicking the "Tools" menu item, choosing "Options," clicking on the "Performance" tab and then set the "Network Buffering" to 5 seconds.)

Iraq Transitions to Full Sovereignty

June 28, 2004

Until Iraq has a new constitution, Iraq will be governed under the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) and the Annex to the TAL.

Note that Article 26 (A) of the TAL provides that laws in effect in Iraq on June 30, 2004, will remain in effect until rescinded or amended by the Iraqi Transitional Government which will be elected in winter 2004-5. These laws include the orders, memoranda, etc. issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and revised where necessary to take account of Iraqi sovereignty by CPA Order Number 100 (PDF only).

For other recent legal developments in Iraq, please view the "Legal Enviornment" on our web site.

For the latest information on Iraq's sovereignty, please visit the U.S. Embassy Web site for Iraq.

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