Airbus subsidiary in Texas fined for failing to report Israel boycott request from Kuwait

The US Bureau of Industry and Security (‘BIS’) has imposed a civil penalty of $44,750 on Airbus DS Government Solutions Inc. (‘ADSGS’), a Texas-based subsidiary of the European major, for failing to report an Israel-related boycott request from Kuwait.

According to the charging letter, ADSGS violated the antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (‘EAR’) ‘by furnishing information about its business relationships with boycotted countries or blacklisted persons and failing to report the receipt of a request to engage in a restrictive trade practice or foreign boycott against a country friendly to the United States,’ BIS said, 4 June.

It explained: ‘Specifically, ADSGS participated in a trade show in Kuwait in 2019.  In connection with the shipment of products and items for display at the trade show, the company furnished to its freight forwarder a commercial invoice/packing list certifying that the goods were not of Israeli origin and not manufactured by a company on the “Israeli Boycott Blacklist.”  Furnishing such information is prohibited by Section 760.2(d) of the EAR.  In addition, the company failed to report to BIS the receipt of the request to furnish this information, as required by Section 760.5 of the EAR.’

ADSGS voluntarily self-disclosed the conduct, cooperated with the investigation and took remedial measures after discovering the conduct at issue, ‘all of which resulted in a significant reduction in penalty,’ BIS said.