BIS seeks input to avoid illicit transshipment

BIS seeks input to avoid illicit transshipment    The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security wants input from the industry to develop an updated set of proposed best practices for how companies may avoid becoming involved in the illicit transit, transshipment and re-export of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations.
   BIS said it's especially interested in receiving industry feedback regarding new transshipment principles and best practices that complement those already identified in the agency's Web guidance.
   'The diversion of controlled and unlisted U.S. origin items from authorized to unauthorized end uses, end users, or destinations, even inadvertently, undermines efforts to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and other threats to national and international security,' BIS said in a notice of inquiry published in Wednesday's Federal Register. 'Such hubs make transshipment trade particularly vulnerable to the diversion of sensitive items to illicit purposes.'
   BIS's recent best practices list was posted on its Web site in November 2003. The agency said it's updating the list 'in light of the U.S. government's current export control reform efforts and the increased attention that re-export, transit and transshipment trade has generated in recent years, both within the U.S. and globally.'
   BIS is asking for recommended best practices from exporters, freight forwarders, carriers, consolidators, express couriers, and others that are parties to dual-use export transactions.
   Comments must be received by the agency before Oct. 18. ' Chris Gillis