- 73 -
the later agreement did not seek to amend the law. The ETD
merely sought an interpretation of how Article IV(f)(6), as
originally written, should be applied. Additionally, we reject
respondent's attempt to have us reject the ETD determination
because of prior actions by the Internal Committee in respect of
EGPC taxes where the credit was not disallowed. There is no
evidence that the credit issue was ever addressed prior to 1992.
Moreover, the ETD was not bound by prior inaction any more than
respondent would be in respect of such inaction. See Lozoff v.
United States, 392 F.2d 875 (7th Cir. 1968), affg. 266 F.Supp.
966 (E.D. Wis. 1967); Thomas v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 206, 226-
227 (1989).
Respondent seeks to undermine the effect of the ETD
determination by arguing that EGPC could have successfully
disputed that determination under substantive and procedural
Egyptian law, and that EGPC would have done so but for
petitioner's efforts to persuade Banbi, the Minister of
Petroleum, to prevent EGPC from doing so. Whether EGPC could
have successfully challenged the ETD determination is unclear,
because there was no precedent focused on the credit versus
deduction issue at the time. In this connection, we note that in
1993, the Refute Committee, on an appeal from the Internal
Committee, supra p. 5, upheld the ETD's interpretation of a
provision like Article IV(f)(6) in an agreement between GPC and
another foreign oil company. The Refute Committee relied on the
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