Rebranding United States Foreign Assistance To Advance American Influence

Executive Order 13964 of December 10, 2020

Rebranding United States Foreign Assistance To
Advance American Influence

By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
(22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) (FAA), as amended, and section
301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby
ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. To foster goodwill between the
recipients of United States foreign assistance and the
American people, and to encourage the governments of
nations that are receiving foreign assistance to
support the United States, it is essential that
recipients of United States foreign assistance be aware
of the manifold efforts of American taxpayers to aid
them and improve their lives. To further this awareness
and to ensure United States foreign assistance supports
the foreign policy objectives of the United States and
maintains American influence and leadership, such
assistance must appropriately and conspicuously be
identified as American aid.

Sec. 2. Establishment of Standard Federal Marking
Regulations. (a) Within 120 days of the date of this
order, the Secretary of State (Secretary), in
coordination with the Administrator of the United
States Agency for International Development
(Administrator) and the heads of other executive
departments and agencies (agencies), as appropriate,
shall initiate notice-and-comment rulemaking to brand
and mark all United States foreign assistance provided
under the FAA or any other law, including all
assistance provided under humanitarian assistance or
disaster relief programs, appropriately as “American
aid,” consistent with section 641 of the FAA (22
U.S.C. 2401). Such rulemaking to establish Federal
marking regulations shall include proposing any
amendments necessary to any existing regulations that
may be appropriate to implement the directives set
forth in this order. The agencies subject to these
regulations shall implement them as soon as possible
after they are finalized.

    (b) For the purposes of the standard Federal
marking regulations described in section 2(a) of this
order:

(i) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the President will select a
logo that embodies the values and generosity of the American people
(“single logo”); and

(ii) The single logo shall be prominently displayed on all materials
related to United States foreign assistance programs, projects, and
activities; on all communications and public affairs materials; on all
foreign assistance goods and materials, and all packaging of such goods and
materials; and on all rebranding of export packaging. The requirement to
display the single logo shall not apply to purely administrative, non-
deliverable items of contractors and recipients of United States foreign
assistance or to the corporate or non-project materials of agencies that
are not tied to projects funded under the FAA, and shall not require the
rebranding of completed projects or products overseas.

    (c) Within 120 days of the date of this order,
agencies that are not otherwise subject to existing
regulations related to the branding and marking of
United States foreign assistance shall identify, to the
extent permitted by law, United States foreign
assistance goods, materials, and packaging solely with
the single logo, and shall amend or rescind any agency
procedures or guidance inconsistent with this
directive. This identification requirement applies to

goods, materials, and packaging provided through non-
governmental organizations and implementing partners
contracted directly by or receiving funds from the
United States Government consistent with subsection
(b)(ii) of this section. This requirement applies, to
the maximum extent practicable, to the obligation of
any funds for such items after the date of this order.
In instances of joint funding agreements with other
donor governments, international organizations, or
other parties, the single logo may be co-marked.
    (d) Within 120 days of the date of this order,
agencies not otherwise governed subject to regulations
related to the branding and marking of United States
foreign assistance shall not, unless required by law,
display their logos on United States foreign assistance
goods and materials or the export packaging of foreign
assistance goods and materials when the single logo is
used as required under subsection (b)(ii) of this
section, and shall amend or rescind as necessary any
agency procedures or guidance inconsistent with this
directive.
    (e) For purposes of subsection (b)(ii) of this
section, absent the application of a specific statutory
or regulatory exemption, the single logo shall be used
unless the Secretary, in coordination with the
Administrator and the heads of any other relevant
agencies, determines that its use in connection with a
certain type of aid or in a particular geographic area
would raise compelling political, safety, or security
concerns; or that its use would undermine the
objectives of the United States in providing such aid.
Any such determination to waive the single logo
requirement must be made in writing. The Secretary may
delegate this waiver authority, but such waiver
authority shall not be delegated below the Under
Secretary level within the Department of State. The
Secretary may delegate this waiver authority to the
Administrator, who may redelegate it to the Deputy
Administrator, provided that the Secretary authorizes
such redelegation.

Sec. 3. Report. Within 180 days of the date of this
order, and annually thereafter, the Secretary, in
coordination with the Administrator and the heads of
other relevant agencies, as appropriate, shall submit
to the President, through the Assistant to the
President for National Security Affairs, a report on
the implementation of this order.

Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.

    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.

    (Presidential Sig.)

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    December 10, 2020.