Foreign nationals (other than U.S. permanent residents and protected individuals) must be licensed by the U.S. Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) before receiving access to technical data controlled for export under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). On March 2, 2009, DDTC posted to its website revised guidelines implementing DDTC policy for the licensing of foreign persons under the ITAR. These revised guidelines updated earlier issued guidelines from September 2008 that provided previously unstated explanations of DDTC policy, and are of critical importance to any ITAR registered corporation that employs, or is considering employing, a foreign national in a position requiring access to ITAR-controlled technical data or defense services. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Dual/3rd Party Nationals’ Category
State Department Issues Clarified Foreign National Deemed Export Licensing Guidance
Monday, January 4th, 2010 by Guest AuthorITAR Licensing for Foreign Person Employees
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 by Danielle McClellanAny US company who has employed a foreign national knows that a DSP-5 is going to be required to give the employee any access to any ITAR-related technical data or defense services. There are however instances where DDTC required a TAA along with the DSP-5. DDTC realized that this “double licensing” really wasn’t necessary and was actually causing them much more work than was necessary. Now all requests for the licensing of a foreign person employed by a US company/person must be submitted via a DSP-5 which will cover all requested levels of technical data and defense services, which will make licensing easier for both the exporter and DDTC.
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UT Professor Gets Jail Time for Export Control Violation
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 by Danielle McClellanLate last year we published an article about a University of Tennessee professor and a physicist from Atmospheric Glow Technologies Incorporated who violated the Arms Export Control Act when they allowed a Chinese foreign national to have access to technical data related to a US Air Force research project.
The 71 year old Tennessee professor, J. Reece Roth was recently sentenced to 4 years in prison for more than a dozen of the violations of the EAR. Roth’s attorney argued that his client was, “guilty, at most, of being ignorant of the law, believing it only applied to the finished product-a plasma actuator to be used on an unmanned Air Force drone-and not research.” Roth pleaded with the court during his sentencing, summarizing what he said was a reputation for honesty and hard work, his wife’s health woes as well as his own heart-related medical problems he respectfully requested the court to take these in to account…but he did not however concede any guilt nor did he show any remorse during his plea for mercy.
Roth’s attorney plans to appeal the court ruling.
DDTC Asks NSC For Guidance on Foreign National Rules
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 by Guest AuthorSource: Reprinted from Export Law Blog (ExportLawBlog.com) by permission of its author Clif Burns, Bryan Cave LLP, Washington DC (telephone: 202.624.3949, email: clif.burns@bryancave.com).
April 14, 2009. An article in this week’s Washington Tariff & Trade Letter (paid subscription required) reports that at the Defense Trade Advisory Group (“DTAG”) meeting held on April 7, Frank Ruggiero, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”) announced that the agency had asked the National Security Council to review the treatment of foreign nationals under U.S.
export laws. The DDTC request was sent at the end of March, but there is no current timetable for its consideration by the NSC inasmuch as the Obama administration is still putting together and organizing the new NSC. (more…)
Dual National Indigestion: Any Relief?
Thursday, April 9th, 2009 by Maarten SengersA senior official from the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) hinted today that it may consider revisiting the definition of what constitutes a “dual” or “third country” national for purposes of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) compliance. Frank Ruggiero, the Acting Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs noted at a Defense Technical Advisory Group meeting in Washington on April 7 that Commerce, State and the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program all have different definitions on what constitutes a dual or third country nationals for purposes of export compliance, and that State would look into developing a harmonized interagency approach. (more…)
Luxembourg-based Company and Affiliates Pay $25 Million Fine to US Government
Monday, February 2nd, 2009 by Danielle McClellanBy: Danielle McClellan, Maarten Sengers and John Black
Qioptiq S.a.r.l (Qioptiq), the owner of a night vision equipment producer in Singapore and related affiliates in the UK and the US, recently agreed to pay $25 million in fines for US International Traffic in Arms (ITAR) violations. The bulk of the 163 charges relate to Qioptiq Singapore activities, including disclosure of unlicensed US night vision technology to its own employees in Singapore, the export of ITAR jurisdiction technology to a variety of countries, and the manufacture and unlicensed export of night vision assemblies using US origin ITAR data to a variety of countries. The large fine is due to the fact that the majority of the violations involved illegal transfers to China (or Chinese national employees) and Iran, two countries that are subject to particularly restrictive ITAR proscribed country status.
SPECIAL NOTE:The Export Compliance Training Institute will discuss the case in detail and look at practical steps companies may take to avoid such fines at its upcoming seminars on US export and reexport controls in Singapore on March 1-4, 2009. Details available at: http://learnexportcompliance.com/seminars/ecti-2010-singapore-seminar.pdf
Qioptiq obtained several Thales High Technology Optic Group companies, including Thales Electro-Optics Pte Limited, Singapore (Thales Singapore), Avimo Singapore (predecessor to Thales Singapore), Thales Optical Coatings, Limited, UK and Thales Optem, Inc., NY (Thales NY) in December 2005. (For the purpose of this article we often will refer to the collective group of companies in Singapore as Qioptiq unless otherwise specified, and not make the distinction between whether violations occurred when the entity was Thales or Qioptiq.) The companies’ primary business is the manufacturing of optical components used in both commercial and military applications. Before the purchase, Thales voluntarily disclosed some of the ITAR violations to the US Government and agreed that its successor company Qioptiq would conduct a thorough review of ITAR compliance over the preceding five years, (and further in some situations). Because of the Thales agreement with the US Government Qioptiq inherited many of the violations when it acquired the Thales companies. (more…)
New Guidelines for Supporting Docs for DSP-73 and DSP-61
Friday, May 16th, 2008 by Danielle McClellanThe DDTC has published the new guidelines for supporting documentation requirements for license types DSP-73 and DSP-61. These requirements became effective April 15, 2008 and any stand alone license applications that are submitted after this date are subject to Return Without Action.
Australia Government Allows BAE to Discriminate for ITAR Reasons
Monday, February 4th, 2008 by Danielle McClellanBAE Systems in South Australia, a defense company, has been granted an exemption from the equal opportunity laws. The company may discriminate on the basis of nationality when selecting employees for US contracts in order to satisfy the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
Linda Matthews, the South Australia Equal Opportunity Commissioner argued that basic human rights should not be overridden by commercial considerations. Her strong opposition of BAE’s application was not enough to convince the Department of Justice to deny their application. BAE’s legal counsel is denying all allegations that the company ever violated South Australia Equal Opportunity laws before the date of the approval of the company’s application.
This development allows BAE to comply with US ITAR requirements that certain foreign nationals not access US defense articles without violating the laws of Australia.
More information:
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock News/1058903/
Bell Helicopter and Quebec Human Rights Commission Settle ITAR-Based Problem
Thursday, January 17th, 2008 by Danielle McClellanThe Quebec Human Rights Commission issued a press release on January 17, 2008 regarding the settlement between Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Ltd. and a Haitian-born man who held Canadian citizenship but was denied an internship because of his ethnicity and the ITAR. According to the ITAR, individuals who hold citizenship in 25 countries, Haiti included, cannot work on U.S. military contracts.
The man was initially hired for the internship with Bell Helicopter until it was found that his citizenship would affect the company’s compliance with the ITAR so he was denied the position. The man has lived in Canada for 30 years and was a citizen, but because he was born in Haiti he was restricted by the ITAR to perform duties at Bell Helicopter.
Quebec Human Rights Commission is now encouraging other individuals of dual citizenship to bring cases to the human rights commissions if they have suffered, are suffering or will suffer in the future discrimination by companies who are complying with the U.S. ITAR. Companies are urged to develop policies and procedures to comply with Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This however, will be difficult because certain policies and procedures will not be appropriate and work for the laws in both Canada and the United States.
