[Asis-l] IEEE Scores First Amendment Victory for Scholarly Publishing

[j.platt at ieee.org]

(Cross-posted. Please excuse duplication.)



Contact:  Marsha Longshore
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          m.longshore at ieee.org

IEEE SCORES FIRST AMENDMENT VICTORY FOR SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING

Updated OFAC Ruling Removes Government Restrictions on Papers from Authors
in Embargoed Countries

      Piscataway, N.J., 5 April 2004 ? IEEE scored a victory for freedom of
the press and the scholarly publishing community with the ruling it
received Friday from the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC).   The ruling exempts peer review, editing and
publication of scholarly manuscripts submitted to IEEE by authors living in
countries that are under U.S. trade embargoes, such as Iran and Cuba.  OFAC
determined that IEEE's publications process is "not constrained by OFAC's
regulatory programs."

      The government's decision confirms the position IEEE has argued for
over a year that its entire publishing process falls outside the scope of
OFAC's regulations because of the Berman Amendment to the trade sanctions
law that excludes the free exchange of information from OFAC's economic
embargoes.

      IEEE had earlier obtained a September 30, 2003 ruling from OFAC that
exempted a large part of its editorial process but left uncertain whether
it had to publish such papers "as is" or could edit such papers prior to
final publication.  This latest April 2 ruling clarifies IEEE's full
freedom to engage in scholarly peer review and style and copy editing of
papers, all without OFAC regulation or licensing.  The earlier September 30
ruling had also been limited to Iran, while the new ruling covers authors
in Cuba, Libya and Sudan as well as in Iran.

      "Effective immediately, IEEE is returning to its normal publishing
process for all authors, which has always been IEEE's goal," said IEEE
President Arthur Winston.   "Since last September's ruling, IEEE had been
only publishing articles from authors in embargoed countries that met its
scholarly publishing standards 'as is' without editing.

      "The ruling eliminates potentially disturbing U.S. government
intrusions on our scholarly publishing process and reaffirms the position
IEEE has taken from the beginning that these publishing activities are
protected by the First Amendment and exempt from the OFAC regulations,"
Winston said, who added, "This issue has been very difficult for IEEE
members worldwide and of great concern to all the engineering, science and
publishing communities, and we believe OFAC's new ruling will be a relief
for nearly everyone."

      IEEE communicated intensively with key OFAC officials, particularly
during the past six months, to achieve these results, including several
further written submissions and two meetings.  Winston explained, "IEEE
invited the scholarly publishing industry and OFAC to an open meeting in
February, and then OFAC met again with IEEE in March."  In an official
acknowledgement of IEEE's persistent advocacy on these issues, Richard
Newcomb, director of OFAC, wrote in the April 2 ruling, "We very much
appreciate the approach taken by [IEEE] to comply with federal law in this
matter, and to work with us in good faith to arrive at a resolution of
these issues."

      In addition to confirming IEEE's broad right to engage in the full
range of normal and customary peer review, and style and copy editing for
scholarly publications, the new ruling also confirms IEEE's rights to
publish in both print and non-print media, to deliver its peer review
comments or questions in any format, and to make both verbatim and
idiomatic translations.

      The full text of the OFAC ruling is available at www.ieee.org/ofac.
                           #  #  #

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approximately 360,000 members in 170 countries. Through its members, the
IEEE is a leading authority on areas ranging from aerospace, computers and
telecommunications to biomedicine, electric power and consumer electronics.
The IEEE produces 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical
and electronics engineering and computer science fields, and has developed
more than 900 active industry standards. The organization also sponsors or
cosponsors more than 300 international technical conferences each year.
Additional information is available at www.ieee.org.





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John R. Platt
IEEE Business Communications Manager
445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
Phone: +1 732 981 3449     Email: j.platt at ieee.org
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