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U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Michael J. Garcia announced today that a $111,250 civil penalty has been imposed on G.M. Marketing Company, a furniture exporter located in Dallas, Texas. The penalty settles charges that G.M. Marketing committed 41 violations of the antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations issued under the authority of the Export Administration Act of 1979, as amended.
The antiboycott provisions prohibit U.S. companies and individuals from complying with certain aspects of unsanctioned foreign boycotts. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Export Administration, through its Office of Antiboycott Compliance (OAC), investigates alleged violations of the antiboycott provisions, provides support in administrative and criminal litigation involving the antiboycott violations, and prepares antiboycott cases for settlement.
From 1991 through 1995, G.M. Marketing engaged in several transactions involving the sale of goods from the United States to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and Qatar. The OAC charged that G.M. Marketing violated the antiboycott provisions by furnishing information concerning other persons' business relationships in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Specifically, the OAC alleged that G.M. Marketing told other parties to the transactions that ships involved in the transactions were able to enter ports located in the boycotting countries. These statements, according to OAC, conveyed information about the blacklist status of those ships, thereby illegally complying with the boycott. The OAC also alleged that G.M. Marketing failed to report that its customers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar had required that the shipping documents and certificates of origin not indicate goods of Israeli origin. In addition, the OAC alleged that G.M. Marketing failed to maintain certain records as required by the antiboycott provisions, such as letters of credit, certificates of origin, and steamship certificates.
G.M. Marketing neither admitted nor denied the allegations, but agreed to the civil penalty of $111,250 to settle the charges. A portion of the penalty will be suspended for two years and waived if G.M. Marketing commits no further violations during that two-year period.
Mr. Garcia commended the efforts of Senior Compliance Officer Cathleen Ryan from the OAC who investigated this case.
In April of 2002 the Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) changed its name to the Bureau of Industry and Security(BIS). For historical purposes we have not changed the references to BXA in the legacy documents found in the Archived Press and Public Information.