COMPANY HIT WITH $30,000 CIVIL PENALTY FOR EXPORT VIOLATIONS

COMPANY HIT WITH $30,000 CIVIL PENALTY FOR EXPORT VIOLATIONS    The U.S. Commerce Department’s Undersecretary for Export Administration Kenneth I. Juster has announced a $30,000 civil penalty on Immediate Customs Service Inc. for engaging in illegal export transactions with a person whose U.S. export privileges have been denied.
   The government said that on four separate occasions from 1995 to 1996, the Jamaica, N.Y.-based freight forwarder and customs broker illegally shipped commodities to Cosmotrans AG in Switzerland. Previously, Cosmotrans was found by the U.S. government conspiring to sell sensitive electronic test equipment without proper export licenses to the Soviet Union, East Germany and Bulgaria.
   On May 9, the courts found that Immediate Customs Service had committed the violations and recommended a $30,000 penalty, with $20,000 suspended for five years and waived if no further violations occur during that time.