International Trade Law News

The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced today that EMD Biosciences, Inc. (EMD) of San Diego, California, has agreed to pay a $904,500 civil penalty to settle charges that it exported biological toxins to Canada in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This penalty is one of the largest civil penalties imposed by BIS. Under the terms of the Settlement Agreement, EMD's export privileges under the EAR were denied for a period of two years, all of which is suspended provided that EMD commits no violations of the EAR during the next two years.

In its charging letter, BIS alleged that, between June 2002 and July 2003, EMD committed 134 violations of the EAR stemming from 67 exports of biological toxins to Canada that were made without obtaining required BIS export licenses.

EMD, formerly known as CN Biosciences, Inc. (CN), previously paid civil fines for unlicensed exports of the same and similar toxins. In 1999 CN agreed to pay a civil penalty of $708,000 to the Commerce Department to settle charges that between July 1992 and January 1994, CN made 171 unlicensed shipments to various destinations in violation of the EAR. $354,000 of the civil penalty was suspended for one year provided that the company committed no further violations of the EAR during that time.