BIS Announces Settlement of Three Enforcement Cases
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) today announced the settlement of three export enforcement cases involving unlicensed exports. Each of these settlements occurred during the past few months.
In the first case, BJ Services Company USA, L.P. (BJ Services), agreed to pay a $142,450 civil penalty to settle charges that between October 1999 and June 2002 the company made several exports of items controlled for chemical weapons reasons to various destinations without obtaining the required export licenses. As part of the settlement agreement entered into with BIS, BJ Services is required to perform an audit of its internal compliance program that will be submitted to BIS's Office of Export Enforcement. BIS stated that the investigation of the shipments resulted from voluntary self-disclosures made by BJ Services and that the company cooperated with BIS during the proceeding.
BIS also announced that ExxonMobil Corporation of Fairfax, Va., agreed to pay civil penalties totaling $49,500 to settle charges that affiliates of the former Mobil Oil Corporation, located in Texas, the United Kingdom and Egypt participated in or were otherwise liable for the unauthorized re-export of computer servers and laptop computers to Sudan between June 1999 and February 2000. Mobil's affiliates in London and Egypt were also charged with failure to retain export control documents as required by the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). BIS stated that ExxonMobil voluntarily self-disclosed the violations and cooperated fully in the investigation.
Finally, BIS announced that Lufthansa German Airlines of Atlanta, GA, agreed to pay a $18,000 civil penalty to settle charges that it violated the EAR in connection with an unlicensed export and an attempted unlicensed export to an entity in India on the BIS's Entity List. BIS charged that between January 6 and January 15, 1999, Lufthansa aided and abetted an unlicensed export and attempted export of Cobolt-57, iron foil, and potassium ferrocyanide to the Department of Atomic Energy in India, an organization on BIS's Entity List, without the required export licenses. BIS further charged that in connection with the attempted export, Lufthansa stored the items with knowledge that a violation of the EAR would occur. This is the second export-related settlement this year involving a member of the Lufthansa Group. Earlier this year Lufthansa Cargo AG, agreed to pay a $31,787 penalty to settle an enforcement action brought by the Office of Foreign Assets Control involving the transportation of goods to Yugoslavia in 1999-2000.
|posted by Douglas N. Jacobson| Permalink 
