BIS Calls on Exporters to Require Customer Certifications for 'High-Priority' Items

Exporters should require their customers to sign written compliance certifications if the shipment involves items that fall under one of nine high-priority Harmonized System codes and the customer is in a country outside of the U.S.-led global export controls coalition, the Bureau of Industry and Security said. Although these customer certifications or end-user statements are not mandated by law, BIS said it’s recommending that companies begin using the certifications if they aren’t already, saying in a new best practices guidance that these statements will help prevent diversion of controlled items to Russia.

Many U.S. companies already require customers to sign end-user statements, but BIS said they’re especially important if the transaction includes certain electronic integrated circuits, radars, capacitors and other items listed on the first page of the guidance. The agency said it’s a “best practice to receive these assurances in writing, for example, through a signed certification statement,” and for exporters that already are using customer certifications or end-user statements, the BIS suggestions are “not meant to replace what you have already determined best mitigates diversion risk.”

But the agency is urging those companies to still review the guidance, which includes a sample certification and suggestions for information that exporters should be using in their end-user statements “to help prevent diversion through third countries to Russia.” That includes the full name and address of the customer, their line of business, their website address, their role in the transaction, a copy of the business license for new customers and the “activity the customer intends to take with the item.”

The certification should also include the name and address of the known end user if the customer isn’t the end user, a list of items covered by the transaction and confirmation that they require a license if exported to Russia or Belarus, and an attestation that the customer will comply with the Export Administration Regulations and “flow-down these EAR requirements to its customers and other parties” to the transaction. The certification should also include the date as well as the customer’s name, title, phone number, email address and signature.

BIS added that exporters should review their certifications for errors, omissions and red flags, such as if the customer’s line of business doesn’t match with the exported item or phone number doesn’t match the country where the customer or end user is located. The “unwillingness of a customer to attest to one or more requests for information may be a red flag,” BIS said.

The new guidance comes about two weeks after the agency expanded the list of common high-priority items that exporters and others should closely monitor for potential diversion to Russia (see 2309200031). A BIS official recently said the agency is “doing an all-out push” to make sure industry, including forwarders, are aware of the risks associated with shipping items that fall under those HS codes (see 2309120031).