BIS encourages voluntary self-disclosures of potential export errors

BIS encourages voluntary self-disclosures of potential export errors The U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Security and Industry wants exporters to continue making voluntary self-disclosures of possible export violations.
   In recent years, U.S. companies have become increasingly concerned that voluntary self-disclosures could lead to stinging agency investigations and severe penalties.
   Mike Turner, director of BIS's Office of Export Enforcement, believes industry fears of heavy-handed agency action against those companies making self-disclosures are mostly unfounded.
   At a meeting of the Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) on Tuesday, Turner said about 95 percent of self-disclosures conducted by BIS between 2004 and 2006 resulted in no monetary penalties, and half of those were cleared of wrongdoing altogether and the other half received only warning letters. 'Only 5 percent resulted in penalties,' Turner said.
   Turner said BIS's biggest concern is targeting export activities associated with weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and diversion of items to military end-use.
   'Our responsibility is to make tools available to enable compliance,' he told the RPTAC members. 'You'll be a seeing a lot more from us about this.'