New Jersey firm fined $400,000 for export violation

The U.S. State Department has imposed a $400,000 civil penalty against Bright Lights USA of New Jersey for exports of unauthorized defense components and technical data in violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.    The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) this week imposed a $400,000 civil penalty against Barrington, N.J.-based Bright Lights USA for exports of unauthorized defense components and technical data in violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
   The company, which has been in business with the Defense Department since 1992 and is headed by Daniel A. Farber, manufactures and distributes spare parts, such as rubber stoppers and seal assemblies, to the Army, Marine Corp, Navy, and Air Force, as well as turbine parts for industry and military.
   Bright Lights notified DDTC of two ITAR violations in voluntary self-disclosures filed with the agency in April 2013 and June 2016. 
   The primary reason for the violations relates to the company not staying current with the former Obama administration’s Export Control Reform (ECR) regarding transition of ITAR-related commodities/technology from the State Department’s U.S. Munitions List to the Commerce Control List. The wrong commodity jurisdiction resulted in the incorrect export licensing classification, which further resulted in export violations for both the physical export of the items and the illegal transfer of technology made by the company. 
   DDTC said the fines for the violations could have been more severe if it weren’t for Bright Lights’ voluntary self-disclosures and cooperation during the investigation, as well as making “significant improvements to its export compliance program that reduce the likelihood of future violations.”
   However, this isn’t the first time the Farber family had been ensnared by U.S. export violations. 
   The father, Jacobo Farber, Bright Lights’ chief engineer who died in September 2013, pleaded guilty in 1988 to violating the Arms Export Control Act while serving as president of Forway Industries, specifically for failing to register the company with DDTC and export fighter plane and Nike-Hercules missile parts without authorization. However, he was never officially debarred from exporting.