Illinois Co. Agrees to $220,000 Civil Penalty for Unauthorized Exports of Diaphragm Pumps.

The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that Yamada America, Inc. an Illinois company, was assessed a civil penalty of $220,000 in connection with the export of diaphragm pumps to Taiwan , Singapore , Brazil and Ecuador without the required licenses.

"The objective of the export control system is to ensure that goods are exported only for legitimate purposes to authorized users. These kinds of violations subject our country to an unacceptable risk that sensitive items will fall into the wrong hands,” said Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Darryl W. Jackson.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) charged that, between 2001 and 2005, Yamada committed a total of 26 violations of the Export Administration Regulations. Specifically, BIS found that Yamada committed 10 violations of exporting diaphragm pumps to the four countries, six violations of exporting the pumps with knowledge that violations would occur, and 10 violations by making false statements on export control documents.

Assistant Secretary Jackson also commended Commerce Department Special Agents for their superb work on the case.

BIS controls exports and re-exports of dual-use commodities, technology, and software for reasons of national security, policy, nuclear nonproliferation, chemical and biological weapons nonproliferation, regional stability, and short supply. Criminal penalties and administrative sanctions can be imposed for violations of the Export Administration Regulations.