BIS Fines Texas Company for Antiboycott Violations

The Bureau of Industry and Security reached a $44,750 settlement with Airbus DS Government Solutions, a Texas-based satellite communications company, after BIS said the firm violated the Export Administration Regulations’ antiboycott provisions. The agency said Airbus DS-GS failed to report a boycott request to the U.S. government and certified to another business that its products didn’t come from Israel.

The company voluntarily disclosed and admitted to its three violations of the EAR, BIS said in a June 3 press release. Airbus DS-GS must pay the fine within 30 days.

Matthew Axelrod, the top BIS export enforcement official, said antiboycott rules “apply with the same force even when another U.S. company is the one making the information requests.” Companies should be “vigilant in examining all transaction documents, regardless of the source, to ensure that the terms and conditions comply with our antiboycott rules,” he said.

BIS said the violations stemmed from a 2019 trade show in Kuwait. Airbus DS-GS used a freight forwarder to ship some of its products to be displayed at the show, and it gave that forwarder a commercial invoice and packing list to certify that the goods weren’t “of Israeli origin,” BIS said. The Texas company also certified that the goods weren’t made by a “company on the ‘Israeli Boycott Blacklist.’”

BIS also said Airbus DS-GS failed to report the Nov. 5, 2019, boycott-related request to the government.

Airbus DS-GS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The penalty is the second BIS enforcement action this year for antiboycott-related violations. The agency in January reached a $153,175 settlement with Wabtec, a U.S. rail technology manufacturer and supplier, after the company failed to report to BIS that it received requests from a Pakistani customer to boycott goods from Israel (see 2401300047).