E.D. Bullard Company and Bullard Gmbh Settle Charges of Illegal Exports

The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that E.D. Bullard of Cynthiana, Kentucky, agreed to pay a $330,000 civil penalty to settle charges that it exported and re-exported thermal imaging cameras to Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Spain, Switzerland, and Venezuela in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). In addition, Bullard Gmbh, of Bonn, Germany agreed to pay a $36,000 civil penalty to settle charges that it resold, re-exported, and transferred thermal imaging cameras to Austria, France and Switzerland in violation of the EAR.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) charged that Bullard and its subsidiary, Bullard Gmbh, committed 61 violations of the EAR between February 2000 and March 2002. Bullard, with assistance from Bullard Gmbh, caused the export, re-export, reselling and transferring of thermal imaging cameras from the United States to the aforementioned countries without the required export licenses, to intermediate consignees not authorized under a license, after a license had expired, in quantities exceeding those authorized by a license, and in violation of the terms and conditions of a license. In addition, Bullard was charged with making false statements on Shipper’s Export Declarations in connection with many of the shipments. The export violations did not result in the diversion of any cameras to countries for which Bullard did not have export licenses.

“Exports of thermal imaging cameras are controlled in order to ensure that they are not diverted into the hands of proliferators or terrorists. This case illustrates the consequences of failing to comply with export license requirements and conditions,” said Wendy L. Wysong, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement.

Acting Assistant Secretary Wysong commended the Washington Field Office of BIS’s Office of Export Enforcement for its work on this investigation.