Latest Updates on Developments Affecting Government Contracts & Investigations
2011 was a banner year for U.S. export control laws. The Obama administration has vowed to streamline and reform the bloated U.S. export control system – promising to build "higher walls" around a narrower universe of goods and technologies requiring export licenses. Following is a summary of ten of the key reforms to U.S. export laws that took place (or were proposed) in 2011.
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Continue Reading 2011 Year In Review: Export Controls and Promised Reforms
By Thaddeus McBride & Reid Whitten
Under a recent court decision, UK government agencies may be able to shield the names of British companies transacting in Iran, and thereby aid these companies in averting potential consequences of U.S. law.
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By Thaddeus McBride, Mark Jensen, & Corey Phelps
In late September, Flowserve Corporation (“Flowserve”) and a number of its subsidiaries agreed to settle alleged export violations with the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry of Security (“BIS”) for $2.5 million, and to remit $502,408 to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) to settle alleged U.S. sanctions violations. Flowserve, including its subsidiaries, is an oil, gas, and chemical services company with operations around the world. The settlement underscores the value of compliance measures specifically tailored to a company’s operations, and provides yet another example of the U.S. government vigorously enforcing U.S. law overseas.
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By Thaddeus McBride & Reid Whitten
On Monday, October 3, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of retired University of Tennessee professor John Reece Roth. In July 2009, Roth received a four year prison sentence for illegally exporting military technology, in large part due to his work with graduate students from Iran and China. Professor Roth’s conviction and prison sentence forcefully remind the research community, commercial as well as academic, of the potentially severe consequences that may arise from ignoring technology export controls.
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By Thaddeus McBride, Mark L. Jensen and Corey Phelps
Beginning on February 20, 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (“CIS”) assumed a role in the U.S. Government’s increasing regulation of technology exports. The new role for CIS relates to the transfer of controlled technology or source code, sometimes referred to as “deemed exports," to non-U.S. nationals.
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Continue Reading Technology Exports: Uncertainty Around Form I-129 Persists
On May 16, 2011, the Department of State (“Department”) published its final rule in the Federal Register amending provisions of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) regarding the transfer of ITAR controlled defense articles (including technical data) to dual and third-country nationals employed by approved foreign end-users. See 76 Fed. Reg. 28174-78 (amending 22 C.F.R. pts. 120, 124 and 126).
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On April 13, 2011, the Department of State (the “Department”) issued proposed amendments to various sections of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) regarding the definition of “defense service.” See International Traffic in Arms Regulations: Defense Services, 76 Fed. Reg. 20590-93 (amending 22 C.F.R. Parts 120 and 124).
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Continue Reading The Department Of State Seeks To Narrow The ITAR Definition Of “Defense Service”
On March 15, 2011, the State Department Directorate of Defense Trade Controls published a proposed new rule that marks a significant change in the approach to ITAR regulation. Historically, ITAR controls have always applied to commercial end products incorporating any ITAR controlled components. This was the basis of the highly publicized QRS chip case, in which the State Department asserted continuing ITAR control over avionics chips that had originated on a military program but had come to be widely used in civilian jet aircraft. That case resulted eventually in a special exception to allow jet aircraft to remain in production and passenger service with the QRS chip and without ITAR licensing.
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On February 25, 2011, the President issued an Executive Order blocking not only the assets of Muammar Qadhafi, Ayesha Qadhafi, Khamis Qadhafi, Mutassim Qadhafi, and Saif Al Islam Al Qadhafi, but also blocking all assets of the Government of Libya, as follows:
“All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person, including any overseas branch, of the Government of Libya, its agencies, instrumentalities, and controlled entities, and the Central Bank of Libya, are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in.”
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On February 23, 2011, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced the appointment of Sheppard Mullin partner Curt Dombek to the President’s Export Council Subcommittee on Export Administration (“PECSEA”), which will advise the Commerce Department on the administration’s export control reform initiative.
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