The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has released the proposed text of the "Export Enforcement Act of 2007", which would renew the lapsed the Export Administration Act of 1979 (EAA). The proposed bill, which BIS hopes will be introduced in Congress in the near future, would renew the EAA for five years after the date of enactment. The Export Enforcement Act of 2007 would make no substantive changes to most of the EAA. Rather, the proposed bill would modify only certain law enforcement aspects of the EAA, including significantly increasing the civil and criminal penalties for violations of export control laws.
The proposed penalties represent a substantial increase over those contained in the EAA and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). If passed by Congress, the Export Enforcement Act of 2007 would increase the maximum civil penalties for violations of the Export Administration Regulations from $50,000, as provided for in IEEPA, to $500,000. Criminal penalties on corporations would be increased to the greater of $5 million or ten times the value of the exports involved.
In addition, the Export Enforcement Act proposes to:
- Provide U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and BIS Office of Export Enforcement Agents with expanded undercover authority and overseas investigative authority.
- Make permanent provisions protecting confidential business and other information protected by the EAA.
- Authorize BIS to participate in the Department of the Treasury's Asset Forfeiture Fund.
- Toll the statute of limitations in administrative cases where a related criminal case is ongoing.
- Expand the list of criminal violations upon which a denial of export privileges may be based.
The proposed text and section-by-section analysis of the Export Enforcement Act of 2007 can be found here (pdf) and here (pdf).Labels: BIS, EAA
