BIS Issues Final Rule Revising Procedures for Voluntary Self-Disclosures

In a Federal Register Notice (FRN) published on September 16, 2024, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a final rule that revises the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) regarding voluntary self-disclosure (VSD) procedures and penalty guidelines.

Under these revisions, BIS can now consider the decision not to file a VSD as an aggravating factor, which can reduce mitigation and potentially increase the amount of an issued penalty. BIS is also introducing "dual track processing" that will allow for VSDs for minor violations to be resolved within 60 days while reducing the workload for companies submitting VSDs by allowing minor violations to be bundled into a single VSD.

The updates to the BIS penalty guidelines remove the maximum base penalty of $125,000 per violation and replace it with a new system based on transaction value. Non-egregious cases that are self-reported will be capped at one-half of the transaction value, while non-egregious cases that are not self-reported will be capped at the total transaction value.

This final rule went into effect on the day of publication.

FRN 2024-21013 can be found here:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/09/16/2024-21013/administrative-and-enforcement-provisions