Export Control and Economic Sanctions

Bruce Zagaris

doi:10.1017/CBO9781316258330.007

6 - Export Control and Economic Sanctions

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2015

Bruce Zagaris

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Bruce Zagaris: Affiliation:
Berliner, Corcoran and Rowe, Washington, DC

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Summary

Introduction

Export controls and related rules and restrictions, especially those imposed by the United States, create a “frightful labyrinth” for practitioners. In the United States, several agencies issue regulations and licenses to control exports based on different statutes. These regulations then interact with numerous free-standing pieces of legislation, many of which are not enacted as amendments to basic statutes or codified. As a result, it can be hard to find and understand the various applicable laws. In addition, the objectivity and transparency one finds in other regulatory areas are often missing from the export control area. Finally, practitioners working in the export control field often find that limitations on judicial review and judicial deference to the executive branch on matters related to foreign policy or national security result in relatively little oversight of official actions.

Economic sanctions are even broader than export controls, encompassing the imposition by governmental or international organizations of economic sanctions for noneconomic foreign policy reasons. Examples include a variety of trade and investment sanctions against apartheid-era South Africa; financial and other sanctions against Panama; measures against Libya, especially after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103; UN sanctions against Sudanese leaders and against former Liberian head of state Charles Taylor; U.S. sanctions targeting narcotics traffickers and kingpins; and U.S. and international sanctions against persons engaged in transnational terrorism.

Sanctioning parties have three possible mechanisms by which to inflict costs on targeted countries: limiting exports, restricting imports, and impeding finances, including reducing aid. Trade sanctions involve costs to the target country in terms of lost export markets, denial of critical imports, lower prices for embargoed exports, and higher domestic prices for substitute imports. In cases where only export or import controls have been invoked, the targeting countries generally prefer export controls to restrictions on imports.

Type: Chapter
Information: International White Collar Crime
Cases and Materials
, pp. 212 - 251

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316258330.007 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2015

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References

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Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security: Regulates the export of dual-use goods and technologies, including enforcing export controls, antiboycott, and public safety laws (http://www.bis.doc.gov/).

Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls: Enforces defense trade controls and formulates defense trade policy (www.pmdtc.org/).

Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency-Technology Security: Responsible for the development and implementation of policies on international transfers of defense-related technology, and reviews certain dual-use export license applications referred by Commerce (www.dtra.mil/).

Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC): Administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions against targeted foreign countries, terrorism-sponsoring organizations, and international narcotics traffickers (www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/).

Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection: Responsible for regulating and enforcing controls over imports of goods into and exports of goods from the United States (www.cbp.gov/).

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U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of International Programs: Licenses the imports and exports of nuclear material and equipment (www.nrc.gov/).

Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, National Nuclear Security Administration: Provides support for U.S. export control compliance and seeks to improve foreign export control practices (www.nnsa.energy.gov/aboutus/ourprograms/dnn).

Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy: Responsible for regulating natural gas imports and exports (www.fe.doe.gov/).

Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, International Affairs Office: Controls the export of endangered fish and wildlife species (www.fws.gov/international/).

Drug Enforcement Administration: Controls the import and export of controlled substances (www.dea.gov/).

Food and Drug Administration: Issues “Certificates of Export” for regulated products and oversees the export of medical devices and medical drugs (www.fda.gov/).

Patent and Trademark Office: Oversees patent filing data sent abroad (www.uspto.gov/).

Environmental Protection Agency, International Affairs: Regulates toxic waste exports (www.epa.gov/international/).

World Trade Organization: Global international trade organization dealing with the rules of trade among nations (www.wto.org/).

Wassenaar Arrangement: Multilateral agreement for the control of exports of conventional arms and dual-use goods (www.wassenaar.org/).

Australia Group: Arrangement seeking to reduce the risk that exporting or transshipping countries will allow chemical and biological weapon proliferation (www.australiagroup.net/).

Missile Technology Control Regime: Association of countries seeking to coordinate national export licensing efforts to prevent the proliferation or weapons of mass destruction (www.mtcr.info/).

Financial Action Task Force: An informal group of countries created by the G7 Summit in 1989 to develop anti-money laundering policies (www.fatf-gafi.org).

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6 - Export Control and Economic Sanctions

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