THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(South Brunswick, New Jersey)
___________________________________________________________________________
___
For Immediate Release
August 23, 2000
STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY
President Clinton has decided against intervening in the proposed
acquisition of Verio, Inc. (Verio), an Englewood, Colorado Internet Service
Provider (ISP), by NTT Communications Corporation, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT). NTT is a
Japanese corporation, majority owned and controlled by the Government of
Japan.
The President based his decision on the results of the investigation
of this transaction by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United
States (CFIUS), an 11-agency group chaired by Treasury Secretary Lawrence
Summers. CFIUS conducted a thorough investigation of various national
security issues related to the transaction. As a result of the
investigation and negotiations with NTT Communications and Verio, any
national security issues that may have been presented by this transaction
have been resolved.
The Verio/NTT investigation was the first one involving the foreign
acquisition of a U.S. ISP conducted under the Exon-Florio provision of the
Defense Production Act of 1950. This provision, which became law in 1988,
authorizes the President to investigate and, if necessary, to suspend or
prohibit a proposed foreign acquisition of a U.S. company engaged in U.S.
interstate commerce. The provision provides certain criteria the President
must meet to suspend or prohibit a transaction. He must find:
-- there is credible evidence that leads the President to believe
that the foreign interest exercising control might take action
that threatens to impair national security, and
-- provisions of law, other than the Exon-Florio provision and the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act, do not in the
President?s judgment provide adequate and appropriate authority
for the President to protect the national security in the present
matter.
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