Christopher Stagg, an export control lawyer and former official with the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, started a new role as assistant editor at Bartlett's Annotated International Traffic in Arms Regulations, he announced on LinkedIn. The regularly updated publication is run by trade lawyer Jim Bartlett and includes ITAR-related footnotes, appendixes with statutes, court cases, consent agreements, government guidance and user aids.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The State Department is seeking public comments on an information collection involving registrations with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. Any person who manufactures, exports, temporarily imports or furnishes defense services, or who participates in certain defense brokering activities, must register certain information with DDTC. Comments are due by Nov. 4.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls this week updated its guidance and frequently asked questions for U.S. persons providing defense services abroad.
The U.K. this week suspended a range of export licenses for Israel that it said are being used to ship items to the Israeli military, though members of Parliament pushed the government to impose a broader ban, including an arms embargo.
Defense firm RTX Corp. will pay $200 million to settle alleged violations of U.S. defense export controls, the largest standalone export penalty ever issued by the State Department. RTX voluntarily disclosed the 750 violations, the agency said in a charging letter, most of which involved “historical” issues by an aerospace firm acquired by RTX in 2018.
Peter Beckman, a former DHS official, has joined the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls as a defense trade analyst in the Defense Trade Controls Licensing office, he announced on LinkedIn. Beckman said he will specifically work on export licensing issues within the agency's Space, Missile, and Sensor Systems Division. Beckman left DHS in July, according to his LinkedIn.
The State Department fined U.S. defense firm RTX Corp. $200 million to settle alleged violations of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, one of the largest standalone export penalties ever issued by the agency. The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said the 750 violations, most of which involved the “historical systemic failures” of an aerospace systems company acquired by RTX, stemmed from export control classification issues, the illegal “hand-carry” of defense items to another country and violations of the terms of DDTC licenses. RTX voluntarily disclosed the violations, which included exports of prohibited items to Lebanon, Iran, Russia and China.
Simon Courtman, a former commodity jurisdiction analyst with the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, has joined General Dynamics as an international trade and compliance manager, he announced on LinkedIn this week. Courtman left DDTC in 2020 and has since worked as a compliance official for several companies, including KPMG and ST Engineering.
Although export control reforms by the U.S., Australia and the U.K. could exempt about three-quarters of defense trade between the countries and reduce compliance costs for industry, more updates are needed to remove lingering licensing barriers and address structural challenges posed by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, researchers said this week.