The Department of Commerce denied Ruben Beltran-Ramos export privileges after he was convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act, Commerce said in a Dec. 31 notice. Beltran-Ramos illegally exported 5,000 cartridges of ammunition from the U.S. to Mexico without a license, Commerce said. He was convicted Nov. 20, 2018, and sentenced to 26 months in prison and a $100 fine. Commerce revoked Beltran-Ramos’ export privileges for 10 years from his date of conviction.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 23-27 in case you missed them.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls’ interim final rule (see 1912230052) to define activities that are not exports, re-exports or retransfers will significantly reduce regulatory and compliance burdens surrounding encrypted data, a law firm and export consulting firm said. In a long-awaited move, the rule will better facilitate international data storage subject to both the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations.
A “new collection format” for the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls’ Commodity Jurisdiction form DS-4076 is now available on the Defense Export Control and Compliance System portal, DDTC said in a Dec. 23 notice. The changes “address additional sources of jurisdiction considerations and refinements to the supporting information,” the notice said. Previous submissions are available through the DECCS CJ Launching Pad, the agency said. DDTC is urging users with existing forms in “Draft” status to review the form before submitting to “verify accuracy of the entire form.” For completed forms, the agency said, the original submission’s documentation is available as a PDF, which “ensures the historical accuracy of the submissions, while keeping the system in line with the current version of the form.”
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is canceling its 3 p.m. courier drop-off/pick-up this week due to “minimal staffing” during the holidays, the DDTC said Dec. 20. The DDTC Response Team and Help Desk will be open Monday, Thursday and Friday this week, but responses may be delayed until next week, “depending on volume.”
The Commerce Department denied Paul Stuart Brunt export privileges after he was convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act, Commerce said in a notice. Brunt illegally exported firearms controlled under the U.S. Munitions List to Turkey and Iraq, the notice said. He was convicted March 1, 2019, and sentenced to three years of probation, required to perform 200 hours of community service and fined $20,000, the agency said. Commerce revoked Brunt’s export privileges for 10 years from his date of conviction.
The growing complexity of international trade and the increasing use of front companies have made it more difficult to identify end-users and more challenging for enforcement authorities to prosecute illegal exports, according to a December report by The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In response, the European Union, and other multistate export regimes, should push for more transparency in penalties for export violations, create a forum for information sharing on national enforcement measures and improve reporting on those measures, the report said. The EU should also adopt “clearer” language on complex export concepts and make “detection, investigation and prosecution” a “key focus” of its industry outreach efforts.
An Iranian businessman was sentenced to 46 months in prison for illegally exporting carbon fiber from the U.S. to Iran, the Justice Department said Nov. 14. Behzad Pourghannad worked with two others between 2008 and 2013 to export the carbon fiber to Iran from third countries using falsified documents and front companies, the agency said.
A Lebanese energy equipment company was fined $368,000 by the Bureau of Industry and Security after it illegally reexported generators to Syria, according to a settlement agreement signed Nov. 27. Ghaddar Machinery allegedly committed 20 violations of the Export Administration Regulations from 2014 to 2016, totaling about $730,000 worth of exports, BIS said. Ghaddar agreed to pay the penalty in five installments through November 2021. Failure to make the payments could result in more penalties, according to the settlement agreement, including a two-year denial of export privileges.
Australia’s Department of Defense’s export controls division will be closed noon on Dec. 20 until Jan. 2, 2020, the agency said in a Dec. 2 notice. Applications will not be processed during that time. Applications received after Dec. 2 may not be completed before the agency closes and will continue to be processed after Jan. 2, the notice said. The agency urges applicants to contact the Defense Export Controls division “should you urgently require a permit” after Dec. 2.