International Trade Law News

Published by Jacobson Burton Kelley PLLC

Here is a summary of our live tweets (Hashtag #BISUpdate) from day 2 of the Bureau of Industry's 25th annual Update Conference on Export Controls and Policy:

• BIS Update day 2 starts with speech by Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement David Mills. 

• Today's breakout sessions include: deemed exports; entity list; regulatory review; automated export system.

• Mills: This year marks 30th anniversary of Office of Export Enforcement. OEE is only agency of US government that specializes in export enforcement.

• Mills: export enforcement statistics 2011 - criminal conviction on 10 companies and 29 individuals and $20 million in fines. Administrative penalties included 39 settlements and $8.5 million in civil penalties. 

• Mills - OEE encourages voluntary disclosures. Only small number of VSDs led to imposition of penalties. In FY 2011 BIS issued 227 warning letters and in FY 2012 181 warning letters have been issued to date.

• Mills: discussed a number of successful export enforcement investigations and penalty cases resolved over the past year.

• Mills: regarding VSDs, BIS has made significant progress in closing out VSD backlog. Mentioned following statistics: closed 60% of VSDs submitted in 2011 and 30% of VSDs submitted in 2012. Reiterated that 97% of VSDs resulted in no penalties.

• Mills: mentioned importance of complying with Antiboycott regulations. Noted that 8 antiboycott penalty cases were settled in 2011. Also mentioned US Govt meetings with boycotting countries has led to one country agreeing to remove boycotting language from documents.

• Next session is an interagency panel on export controls, including officials from Departments of State and Defense. Noted that 15,652 licenses issued by BIS in FY2012. 212 were sent to Operating Committee and 26 were sent to next level for review. 788 CJs were issued in FY12.

• Some other news from Update: BIS has unveiled a new Strategic Trade Authorization (STA) Interactive Compliance Tool on its website at http://t.co/xGa49eyv.

• Other news from BIS Update: A new address verification feature will be soon be added to SNAP-R electronic licensing system.

• In other sanctions news, today OFAC added a number of high ranking Syrian officials to the SDN List: http://t.co/4y9ypaMb

• Full text of opening remarks by BIS Under Secretary of Commerce Eric Hirschhorn at Update 2012 found here: http://www.bis.doc.gov/news/2012/hirschhorn_update_2012.htm

• Full text of yesterday's remarks by BIS Assistant Secretary Kevin Wolf at Update 2012 found here: http://www.bis.doc.gov/news/2012/wolf_update_2012.htm

• Keynote speaker at Update day 2 is FBI director Robert Mueller. 

• FBI Director Mueller now speaking at Update on export controls and enforcement issues. Noted impact of globalization on technology and information flows. Noted efforts by procurement networks to obtain controlled technology. Also noted internal threats by employees having access to controlled technology.

• RT @dcsleeps: Extremely powerful and moving presentation by Master Sergeant Jarrett Jongema re IEDs and counter-proliferation efforts.

• FBI Director Mueller mentioned several past and ongoing export controls enforcement investigations and convictions against persons and procurement networks. Noted importance of FBI's partnership with private sector in export control cases. Stressed importance of recognizing red flags.

• The full text of FBI Director's remarks today at Update can be found here on FBI's website: http://t.co/FTqaWGca

• Export enforcement panel now underway at Update. Moderated by DAS Salo. Panelists include directors of Office of Export Enforcement, Office of Antiboycott Compliance, Office of Chief Counsel and Office of Export Analysis.

• Export enforcement panel using pre-submitted question and answer format as in the past. Several questions on antiboycott compliance and jurisdictional issues, including scope of "US Commerce."

• Director of Office of Antiboycott Compliance said that BIS and UAE are working together to remove prohibited boycott language from agreements, tenders and other documents issued by UAE companies.

• BIS Office of Antiboycott compliance mentioned growing number of boycott requests involving Malaysia. 

• BIS will soon be issuing modifications to the Unverified List to update the parties on that list. Inclusion of a party on the Unverified List is a red flag.

Reminder: On Thursday, July 19th, Assistant Secretary for Export Administration Kevin Wolf and other BIS regulatory and technical specialists will address issues related to the current export control reform effort in open forum telephone conference calls on July 19th from 10:00 am-12:00 pm EDT and from 1:00 pm-3:30 pm EDT. While live questions will not be taken, callers are encouraged to submit questions to BIS in advance by e-mail the following email address: OESDSeminar@bis.doc.gov. The dial-in number and passcode for the teleconferences is as follows: Call in Number: 888-455-8218; Passcode: 6514196.

Presentations from BIS are now posted on the BIS web site, Update 2012 Presentations or on the BIS BETA web site Update 2012 Presentations.

Labels: BIS Update Conference