MSC's Chicago Office Settles Anti-Boycott Charges

Mediterranean Shipping Company will pay over $80,000 to settle allegations that it violated anti-boycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations, according to documents recently posted to the Bureau of Industry and Security website. The steamship line’s Chicago office allegedly agreed to requests to add Israel boycott clauses to shipping documentation, and failed to report those requests as required by the EAR, BIS said in charging documents.

Under the settlement, signed Jan. 5, MSC Chicago must also engage in an internal audit of its anti-boycott compliance program, and submit an audit report with any violations committed during the past year. If it fails to pay the $81,000 penalty and submit the report, BIS will deny MSC Chicago’s export privileges for a one-year period.

According to the charging documents, MSC Chicago committed 10 anti-boycott violations from September 2015 through May 2018. BIS said MSC on eight occasions furnished information concerning its business relationships with or in a boycotted country. One two occasions, MSC Chicago failed to report a request to engage in a restrictive trade practice or foreign boycott against a country friendly to the U.S., BIS said.

For example, MSC Chicago allegedly included on a bill of lading and sea waybills a certification “that the vessel carrying these goods is not owned by Israel, not by an Israeli subject and will not call at any of Israel's ports,” and that the vessel “is not blacklisted by the Arabic countries.” MSC Chicago also allegedly certified on another occasion that a vessel was allowed to enter Oman. Both of those certifications constituted furnishing of information prohibited under the anti-boycott regulations.

MSC Chicago also allegedly failed to report a boycott request for “a separate declaration signed by the shipping company or its agent” that “the carrying vessel is allowed to enter ports of Libya.” The alleged request for information on whether the goods are owned by an Israeli or will call on Israeli ports was also an illegal boycott request, BIS said.