Advanced EAR Compliance

• Red flags: Abnormal circumstances in a transaction that indicate that the export may be destined for an inappropriate end-use, end-user, or destination
• Obtaining documentary evidence concerning the transaction, both in the licensing process and in all export control documents
• Instructing the salesforce: Mandating they receive an affirmation from the intermediary around the definition of the actual end-use, end-user and ultimate country of destination for the product your firm is seeking to sell
• Establishing clear policies and effective compliance procedures to ensure red flag knowledge about transactions can be evaluated by responsible senior officials
• Reevaluating all the information after the Red Flag inquiry to ensure legitimacy
• BIS efforts to work in partnership with industry to make this Red Flag front line of defense effective, while minimizing the regulatory burden

Part 760 of the EAR, “Restrictive Trade Practices or Boycotts,” has seen increased compliance and enforcement attention over the past 12 months. The increasingly fractured geopolitical environment has led to other international trade embargoes becoming subject to U.S. antiboycott rules. In March 2024, for the first time, BIS’s Office of Antiboycott Compliance released a public list of companies who have been identifies as having made reportable boycott requests. New enforcement actions have seen companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties due to Part 760 compliance failures. How are multinationals keeping up with this growing list of embargoes and what are the best practices around creating anti-boycott programs to remain compliant?

• Training employees: Provide training to all levels of employees about antiboycott compliance, including senior sales and supply chain, customer service, shipping, and receiving personnel
• Screening sales: Reviewing all sales for antiboycott related requests, including purchase orders, contracts, request for quotations, and other discussions or terms/conditions being agreed to as part of the sale
• Develop an escalation process for reporting any such requests or questions internally
• Report requests: Form BIS 621-P for single transactions or BIS 6051P for multiple transactions involving boycott requests received in the same calendar quarter

What are the emerging barriers to getting your team up to speed on evolving China export compliance decision-making? What are the mission-critical points to address when upskilling your team around the needs for continuous updating control programs? Using hypothetical scenarios and audience feedback, this session will leave you with the management tools needed to fulfill compliance needs while at the same time increasing your team’s understanding of the compliance landscape.

FDPR:

• Avoiding key pitfalls when applying the FDPR
• Foreign Direct Product Rule (FDPR)/advanced computing export controls rules
• de minimis threshold decision-making
• Controlled Content: U.S. origin items that require BIS authorization (a license or license exception)
• Examine necessary tools your peers are using for when your compliance teams are stumped by:
• Impacts of the FDPR rule: How do you tighten up compliance oversight around third-party due diligence procedures?
• Conducting gap analysis: Updating your compliance program protocols to make sure legal, engineering, and trade compliance are all in the loop
• Employee training and monitoring
• Has the company provided tailored training for high-risk and control employees?
• What resources have been available to employees to provide guidance
• Conducting gap analysis: Updating compliance programs to make sure legal, engineering, and trade compliance are all in the loop with new controls
• Third-party management
• Developing a model that stratifies your risk based on third parties — and how to perform due diligence accordingly
• What to do with information uncovered during the vetting process: How to evaluate red flags

Practical tools for understanding of Russia Export Controls Compliance Landscape: EAR 734.9(f)

• Audience polling: Identifying your critical compliance impacts and adjusting best practices for export controls-related training
• More tools to help your team digest:
• Russia/Belarus EAR 734.9(f)
• EAR supplements and restrictions on exports “for use in” Russia
• Availability of exemptions and licenses for encryption activities in Russia

Practical Tools for Understanding the Russia Sanctions Compliance Landscape: Russia Harmful Foreign Activities Regulations (“RuHSR”)

• Audience polling: Identifying your critical compliance impacts and adjusting best practices for sanctions-related training
• OFAC developments and General Licenses: Scope and limitations
• Russian countermeasures on withdrawing companies and expropriation decrees
• Alignment with US sanctions and export controls and areas of difference

During this advanced, in-depth, practical session, the expert speakers will take you through the evolving, complex web of EAR restrictions, their real-life application and common misunderstandings that have caught the attention of U.S. enforcement agencies. Benefit from an opportunity to hear hypothetical examples that will help to clarify the impact of the rules on both U.S. and foreign operations.

Licensing/Authorization

• Transactions involving sensitive technology, sensitive countries or parties, or situations of first impression where higher government scrutiny will take place
• Licensing strategies that incorporate provisos and working with the government to reconsider proviso by deletion or modification
• Storing and managing technical data within companies that operate across borders
• Using STA and other complex EAR Exceptions

Jurisdiction/Classification

• Jurisdiction and classification considerations for highly complex or novel situations
• Applying useful sources to perform jurisdictional and classification analysis
• Inside the commodity jurisdiction process (CJ, CCATS and Company internal) and advanced considerations
• Complex issues in 600-series classification

Advanced Compliance/Enforcement Issues

• Key lessons learned from the latest consent agreements and enforcement policies to build best-in-class compliance programs
• Critical issues to consider when evaluating potential violations
• Handling voluntary disclosures and internal investigations – if and when to disclose
• Responding to directed disclosure and government requests for information
• Compliance with Part 764.5(f) regarding treatment of unlawfully exported items after voluntary disclosure.