BIS Fines Company for Exporting Biological Toxins to Belgium
The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) today announced that Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Elan) of South San Francisco, California, agreed to pay a $31,000 civil penalty to settle charges that it exported PRIALT, a sub-unit of conotoxin, to Belgium in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).
In its charging letter, BIS alleged that between May 2000 and April 2002, Elan committed eight violations of the EAR stemming from four exports of the controlled biological toxin to Belgium. BIS alleged that these exports were made with reason to know that the required export licenses would not be obtained.
Elan voluntarily self-disclosed the violations and cooperated fully in the investigation. In addition to the monetary penalty, the settlement agreement requires Elan to perform an internal audit of its export compliance program.
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