Shipping regulations should be revised to allow the Federal Maritime Commission to better address unfair detention and demurrage fees, agricultural export issues and a range of other shipping problems at U.S. ports, FMC Chair Daniel Maffei said. While he didn’t propose any concrete changes, he said he is “frustrated” with the situation at the nation’s ports and is speaking with Congress about potentially proposing regulatory changes. “I'm not prepared to go into any details now, but I do think that some things clearly need to be clarified,” Maffei said during a May 5 National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference. “There are many, many areas where the law is vague or so outdated because it simply was written mostly in the time of tariffs, and now it's mostly contracts.”
U.S. exporters and forwarders are still unsure how much due diligence is enough to comply with the Commerce’s Department’s recently expanded end-user and end-use restrictions, National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America officials said. Although the Bureau of Industry and Security issued some guidance last year, the guidance didn't address all industry questions and was made more complicated by another set of restrictions that took effect this year, the officials said.
The U.S. needs a national export strategy and a combination of federal support and digital solutions to address ocean carriers declining to carry U.S. agricultural exports, said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. While he thinks the issue can be fixed, Seroka said it will be challenging.
The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee urged Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to address the agency’s “incomplete” implementation of its emerging and foundational technology export control mandate when she testifies before the House this week. Raimondo -- who will testify May 6 before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science -- should also address Commerce’s search for a Bureau of Industry and Security leader and outline the agency's export controls strategy to compete with China, said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.
The State Department fined a U.S. aerospace and technology company $13 million for illegally exporting technical data to several countries, including China, according to a May 3 order. Honeywell International sent drawings of parts for military-related items, including for engines of military jets and bombers, the agency said, all of which were controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. After discovering the violations, issuing a self-disclosure to the State Department and bolstering its compliance program, the company again illegally exported technical drawings, failing to abide by its improved compliance requirements, the order said.
Forwarders are seeing a rise in maximum penalties issued by CBP for violations surrounding ocean shipments that occurred over a year ago, National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America officials said. Joe Brogan, the chair of NCBFAA’s export compliance subcommittee, said CBP officers are increasingly digging up old violations where forwarders submitted incorrect transportation-related information, such as the date of export or the port of export, and have levied penalties higher than $14,000 for a “single occurrence.”
Although a court opinion last week cleared the way for exports of 3D-printed guns to be removed from State Department jurisdiction, the guns will continue to be covered under the agency’s U.S. Munitions List until the ruling is made official, the State Department said.
While Western sanctions against Russia haven’t fully succeeded, they’ve been more effective than widely assumed and have played a significant role in limiting Russia’s economic growth, economists and international relations experts said. The experts urged the U.S. and other Western countries to continue imposing sanctions against Russia, which may dissuade the country from pursuing destabilizing activities in Ukraine and interfering in foreign elections.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a Texas money transfer company more than $34,000 for committing over 350 sanctions violations, OFAC said April 29. The company, MoneyGram Payment Systems, voluntarily disclosed the violations in 2017 (see 2011040041) after it provided services to blocked people in U.S. prisons and processed transactions on behalf of a sanctioned person and people doing business in Syria. OFAC said MoneyGram “had reason to know” the transactions “may” have exposed them to sanctions but followed through with them because of screening failures or “based on an erroneous misunderstanding” of its compliance obligations.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a U.S. thermal imaging camera producer more than $300,000 after it violated the Export Administration Regulations by providing false and incomplete statements in support of a commodity jurisdiction (CJ) request (see 2103040065). The company, FLIR Systems, sought a determination that one of its newly developed products was subject to the EAR rather than the State Department’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations and withheld information in order to support that determination, BIS said. Along with the fine, FLIR agreed to conduct two BIS-monitored internal audits and won’t be granted export licenses until the audits are completed and the fine is paid, BIS said in an April 29 notice.