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Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Overview of Control List Developments and Sanctions Update
Ronald Meltzer
Waltham, MA
May 31, 2012
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Principal U.S. export control authorities
Treasury Dept.
Office of Foreign Assets
Control
State Dept.
Directorate of
Defense Trade
Controls
Commerce Dept.
Bureau of Industry and
Security
Foreign assets control regulations
International Traffic in Arms Regulations, United States Munitions List
Export Administration Regulations, Commerce Control List
Transactions with sanctioned countries, entities and persons
Transfers of defense articles and provision of defense services
Exports and re-exports of dual-use commodities, software, equipment, and technology
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2012 Update: General Developments Continued implementation of Administration’s export control
reform initiative (ECRI) and four “singularities”
– Single list: list revision continues; few final rules
– Single licensing agency and revisions to policy: pace is slower
– Single IT system: DDTC completing migration to the DoD licensing database, USXports. Commerce to migrate in 2012.
– Enforcement: Export Enforcement Coordination Center, E2C2 (March 2012)
BIS/State – Leading list revision
OFAC - New Executive Orders and revisions to several
regimes
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Control List Reform“Control Lists Tracker” provided at http://export.gov provides a snapshot
of progress
source: http://export.gov/static/2012-5-7%20ECR%20Control%20List%20Tracker_1_142193_eg_main_048264.pdf
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BIS: Key changes affecting export control list
New holding ECCN 0Y521 (April 2012)
– For “Items Not Elsewhere Listed on the Commerce Control List (CCL)”
– Equivalent to United States Munitions List (USML) Category XXI (Miscellaneous Articles), but items remain only up to 1 year, after which time the 0Y521 entry expires
– Items will be added to the 0Y521 ECCNs by the Department of Commerce, with the concurrence of the Departments of Defense and State
– Nearly worldwide license requirement, with case-by-case review for licensing
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BIS: Key proposals affecting export control
• New controls for items formerly on USML and related articles
Category VI - Vessels of War
Category VII - Military Vehicles
Category VIII - Aircraft
Category XIX - Gas Turbine Engines
Category XX - Submersible Vessels, Oceanographic Equipment
• Possible changes to Categories I, II, III (firearms, guns, ammunition)
– “White House Efforts to Relax Gun Exports Face Resistance,” Wall Street Journal, May 1, 2012
– “Obama plan would ease weapons export rules,” Washington Post, May 2, 2012
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BIS: Key enforcement actions September 2011, Flowserve Corporation of Texas
– Settled ($2.5 million to BIS and $502,408 to OFAC) allegations of making
unlicensed exports of pumps and related parts indirectly to Iran and
Sudan and engaging in transactions with Cuba or a Cuban national
October 2011, Sunrise Technologies and Trading Corporation
and its principal owner
– Fined $1,250,000 and prohibited from exporting any goods from the U.S.
for ten years after making unlicensed exports to Iran of computer-related
goods. Sunrise and its principal owner also agreed to a $1,661,672
settlement with OFAC.
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BIS: Key enforcement actions
January 2012, Nadeem Akhtar of Maryland
– Sentenced to 37 months in prison for conspiring to sell export nuclear-
related materials to Pakistan.
February 2012, Online Micro, LLC and one of its principal owners
– Fined $1,899,964 and prohibited from exporting any goods from the U.S.
for ten years after exporting computer-related goods to Iran. Company
and the owner also agreed to a $1,054,388 settlement with OFAC.
May 2012, Ulrich Davis of The Netherlands
– Sentenced to six months in prison for facilitating the illegal export of
acrylic adhesives and spray paint coatings to Iran.
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OFAC: Key changes New SDN Search Tool: "SDN Search."
– Provides an online interface to search the SDN list across several criteria
– http://sdnsearch.ofac.treas.gov/
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OFAC: Key changes
Executive Orders
– Yemen: EO Blocking Property of Persons Threatening the Peace, Security, or Stability of Yemen (May 16, 2012)
– Evasion: EO on Foreign Sanctions Evaders (Iran and Syria) (May 1, 2012)
– Human Rights and Surveillance Technology: EO on Human Rights Information Technology (“GHRAVITY”) Order (April 23, 2012)
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OFAC: Key changes Burma
– Various general licenses issued 4/17/12, including for financial services supporting :
(1) projects to meet basic human needs;
(2) democracy building and good governance projects;
(3) educational activities;
(4) sporting activities;
(5) non-commercial development projects directly benefiting the Burmese people; and
(6) religious activities.
– Obama Administration may be further lifting sanctions against Burma (May 17, 2012)
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OFAC: Key changes Iran
– Iranian Transactions Regulations Amendment and change in licensing policy on internet freedom (March 2012)
– Financial Sanctions Regulations: Implementing Sec. 1245(d) of the FY 2012 NDAA and related guidance (February 2012)
– Executive Order Blocking the Property and Interests in Property of the Government of Iran and Iranian Financial Institutions (February 2012)
– General licenses for food items (October 2011)
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OFAC: Key changes Syria
– General licenses (wind down transactions, humanitarian)
Libya
– General licenses, i.e. permitting certain transactions with Government of Libya and the Central Bank of Libya
Sudan
– General licenses for food items, oil-related activities with respect South Sudan
Weapons of Mass Destruction
– General License 5 issued and amended
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OFAC: Key enforcement actions
In December 2011, a Georgia company paid $13,500 to settle
allegations that it attempted to export a boat and boat parts to Sudan.
In February 2012, Teledyne Technologies, Inc., and a subsidiary paid
$30,385 to settle allegations that, on two occasions, it indirectly
exported Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers to Sudan.
In April 2012, a Colorado company agreed to a settlement of
$126,000 for twice allegedly exporting medical equipment to the
United Arab Emirates with reason to know that the goods were
intended to be shipped to Iran.
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OFAC: Key enforcement actions
Also in April 2012, a New York cosmetics company agreed to
pay $450,000 because of unlicensed exports of nail care
products to Iran.
In May 2012, an asset management company agreed to a
$112,500 settlement after purchasing $3 million in shares of a
Cayman Islands company that invests exclusively in Iran.
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State/DDTC: Key proposals affecting export control
Some proposals still waiting for final disposition –
Replacement Parts/Components and Incorporated Articles (proposed
March 2011)
Definition of of “defense services” (proposed April 2011)
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State/DDTC: More proposals affecting export control Additional proposed revisions to:
– Category VI, Vessels of War and Special Naval Equipment
– Category VII, Tanks and Military Vehicles (again)
– Category VIII, Aircraft and Associated Equipment
– Category XX, Submersible Vessels, Oceanographic and Associated
Equipment
– Category V, Explosives and energetic materials, propellants, incendiary
agents, and their constituents
– Category XIII, Auxiliary and miscellaneous items
Proposed New USML Category XIX, Gas Turbine Engines
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State/DDTC: Key enforcement actions
Enhanced enforcement through debarment—
85 total statutory debarments for AECA convictions were
published in the Federal Register between 2004-2008
103 in 2010 and 2011 alone: 56 in 2010, 47 in 2011.
– Source: http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/compliance/debar_intro.html
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State/DDTC: Key enforcement actions
In September 2011, two owners of a Chinese company who
purchased programmable read-only microchips for sale to a
Chinese government-controlled entity were each sentenced to
24 months in prison.
In December 2011, EO System Company, Ltd, and three
individuals were indicted for exporting infrared focal plan array
detectors and infrared camera engines to South Korea.
In January 2012, the head of research and development at a
Massachusetts company pleaded guilty to allegations of
exporting military antennae to Hong Kong and Singapore.
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State/DDTC: Key enforcement actions
February 2012, ICM Components Inc.
– Company and owner indicted for attempting to export helicopter parts to Iran.
April 2012, Alpine Aerospace Corporation
– Paid a $30,000 fine for six unlicensed exports of parts for Hawk missile systems.
– Consent agreement required enhanced corporate export compliance procedures and an audit of the company
– Suspended the fine on the condition that the funds be used on compliance.
– TS Trade Tech Inc., with the same ownership, received the same terms but with a suspended civil penalty of only $20,000 for the unauthorized export of aircraft parts & equipment.
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Possible legislation in this arena
Unlike last year, no wholesale reform legislation on the
horizon
Satellite control reform: Safeguarding United States
Leadership and Security Act (S. 3211)
– Responds to findings of the DOD “Section 1248” report
– Companion bill to measure passed by the House on May 1, 2012 as part of the NDAA for FY2013 (H.R. 4310)
– Gives the President the authority to move satellites and related components off the US Munitions List (USML), but prohibiting the export of such items to China, Iran, and several other nations
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Questions?
Ronald Meltzer
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+1 202 663 6389