While you are trying to figure out where you left off before Christmas, keep in mind that a new Harmonized Tariff Schedule is now in effect for 2017. The new HTS is available online. For those of you still relying on that paper copy, it is also available from the Government Publishing Office. The updated...
In July 2016, the U.S. Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) announced that it had re-initiated its Company Visit Program for companies engaged in ITAR-controlled work. The stated objectives of this program are: Advance DDTC’s understanding of how different companies establish and maintain an overall defense trade control program to fit the...
Effective October 14, 2016, BIS has amended the Export Administration Regulations to allow for electronic submission of reporting requests U.S. persons receive to take action in furtherance or in support of an unsanctioned foreign boycott. Prior to this, reports were only permitted to be submitted by mail using BIS 621-P or BIS 6051-P. These can...
Traditionally Export Related Voluntary Disclosures/Voluntary Self-Disclosures have been filed with DDTC, BIS, OFAC or occasionally the Bureau of Census. Each of these agencies encourages companies and individuals to file the Disclosures and they provide an incentive in that the filing can be considered as a mitigating factor to the violation(s) committed. The number of agencies...
Moving one step closer to the Single IT system goal of Export Control Reform, DDTC has acquired a new case management IT system to modernize its business processes. Additionally, DDTC has begun accepting comments related to the new DS-7788 (Application for Permanent Export, Temporary Export or Temporary Import of Defense Munitions, Defense Services and Related...
In March of 1983, during a speech in Orlando, Florida, former President Ronald Reagan first used the phrase the “evil empire” to describe the Soviet Union. The phrase stuck, and a new era of emphasis on Export Regulations and Controls began. Stopping the USSR from acquiring U.S. technologies that could be used against us or...
The clock is ticking! Exporters have just one month (until November 15, 2016) to change the language and use of their Destination Control Statements (DCS). As the U.S. Government moves forward with the harmonization of export regulations under Export Control Reform, the ITAR and the EAR will soon be aligned with respect to the content...
Here’s a question we see all the time: We’re registered as a manufacturer of defense articles, but we do not export. So, why do we need a compliance program with written policies and procedures? To answer this question, let me provide a real-world illustration from a recent Government Accounting Office (GAO) document. A special “heads-up”...
Earlier this month, I was reading some articles online and found the following statement about a company and its ITAR requirements (bold emphasis mine): "Export-controlled technical data has a unique set of rules designed to ensure that it is not inadvertently released or “exported” to foreign persons either inside or outside the United States. As...
For any industry, the “cost of doing business” inevitably increases over time. For companies engaged in ITAR-controlled work, the cost of not doing business compliantly is about to skyrocket. DDTC has announced that, effective August 1, 2016, the maximum amount that can be levied as a Civil Monetary Penalty will change. Most notably, for each...