Minnesota shipper fined $400,000 for export violations

Minnesota shipper fined $400,000 for export violations A federal court in Minnesota sentenced an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company to two years probation and a $400,000 fine in connection to submitting false export license applications to the U.S. Commerce Department involving proposed shipments to India.
   MTS Systems Corp. pleaded guilty March 12 to two misdemeanor counts of false certification or writing. MTS makes and sells test systems, including some used in the unregulated nuclear activities in India.
   “Omitting material information to a licensing official about the intended end use of a controlled technology items is a serious offense,” said Darryl W. Jackson, assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department. “In this case, the omission clearly was an attempt to disguise the end use of testing structural components of nuclear-power plants.”
   The court also ordered MTS to implement and maintain a model export compliance program and to sponsor an export compliance conference to be held at a future date.
   In 1998, the United States imposed economic sanctions on India after it conducted a series of nuclear weapons tests. The sanctions prohibit American companies from exporting certain goods and services to various Indian entities without first obtaining an export license.