Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

THE BEIRUT AGREEMENT
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World-Wide Free Flow of Audio-Visual Materials (22 CFR 61)

The Beirut Agreement

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administers the 1948 Agreement for Facilitating the International Circulation of Visual and Auditory Materials of an Educational, Scientific and Cultural Character (known as the Beirut Agreement).

The Agreement is an international collaborative effort to promote the free flow and exchange of certain audio-visual materials worldwide. The Agreement provides an exemption of import duties, import licenses, special taxes, quantitative restrictions and other restraints and costs on certain types of audiovisual materials.

Requestors must submit an Application for Certification of International Educational Character (DS-2038) for consideration. When the Department of State determines that submitted materials are of educational, scientific, and cultural character, the requestor is issued a certificate (DS-2039, Certificate Issued to Facilitate the International Circulation of Audiovisual Materials of an Educational, Scientific and Cultural Character) to that effect.

The Department also issues importation documents which attest that audiovisual materials of foreign origin entering the United States comply with the standards of the Agreement and are entitled to duty-free entry in the United States (DS-2040, U.S. Importation Document for Audiovisual Materials). Requestors should submit to the Department a certificate from the country of origin attesting that the material is of educational, scientific, and cultural character. When the materials are determined to meet the requirements of the Agreement, the Department will issue a U.S. Importation Document.

Regulations

Regulations governing the agreement are contained in Part 22, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 61.

Authority for Implementing the Agreement

Authority for administering and implementing the Agreement resides in the Department of State pursuant to the consolidation of the United States Information Agency (which formerly administered the Agreement) with the Department of State effective October 1, 1999. (See Federal Register: October 7, 1999 [Volume 64, Number 194])

General information and application forms may be obtained by contacting:

Chief Attestation Officer of the United States
ECA-IIP/EX

U.S. Department of State
301 4th Street, S.W., Room 534
Washington, D.C. 20547
Phone: (202) 203-7447
Fax: (202)-205-2457

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