GAO: ?Dublin, Iran? isn?t a U.S. export destination

GAO: æDublin, IranÆ isnÆt a U.S. export destination    A congressional watchdog agency has found numerous instances in U.S. trade statistics during the past several years reporting exports being made to Iran when in fact they were destined to other countries.
   The Government Accountability Office said the statistics captured in the Census Bureau's Automated Export System indicated that U.S. exporters shipped 278 different types of goods to Iran from 2004 to 2008. However, the agency found that 97 of these types of goods, including military rifles, were shipped not to Iran but to other countries, including Ireland, Israel and Iraq. The remaining 181 items consisted mostly of agricultural, medical, humanitarian and informational items.
   'The misidentification of Iran as the recipient country in the statistics resulted from export data filing errors that Census did not detect or correct because of low dollar value of the export transactions,' the GAO said in a report released Thursday.
   'Although their dollar value is small relative to the value of all U.S. exports (estimated $638 million of the total $1.3 trillion in 2008), the accuracy of the Iran export statistics is important because the United States has severely restricted trade with Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism,' the GAO added.
   The agency noted that the misidentification of Iran as the recipient country for the U.S. exports was the result of errors made by AES and AESDirect filers.
   'In checking its records at our request, Census determined the addresses of the recipients to which the shipment were to be delivered,' the GAO said. 'It found many cases of 'improbable' addresses, such as 'Dublin, Iran.' In these cases, exporters apparently mistook the two-letter country code for Iran ('IR') for the code for the actual recipient country. For example, exporters shipping goods to Ireland might enter 'IR' instead of the correct code for Ireland ('IE').'
   Census has responded to the GAO's review by starting in August 2009 routine accuracy checks of new filings of exports to Iran and other heavily sanctioned countries including Cuba, North Korea, and Sudan, regardless of the dollar value of the exports. The agency told the GAO that it's now checking recipient addresses to verify that they match the reported country of destination and are calling filers of export data to verify questionable entries.
   Census also clarified the country selection process in AESDirect, the filing system used by most exporters to enter information into AES, by including a 'pull-down' menu that lists all the countries of the world by their complete names.
   In June 2009, Census began posting an online list of corrections to Iran export data. However, the agency informed GAO that it would maintain its policy of not correcting errors in trade statistics older than one year.
   In addition, the GAO report said the Treasury Department struggles to retrieve and provide complete information about its Iran export licensing decisions at the request enforcement agencies, such as Customs and Border Protection.
   'Treasury's information systems weaken the ability of the government to assess compliance with Iran sanctions,' the GAO said.
   The department plans to update its licensing information system for legitimate licensed exports of agricultural and medical products to Iran. 'However, the upgrade would not address its inability to readily identify licenses for other goods, including civilian items with potential military uses,' the GAO warned.