Overview | Specific Experience | Representative Clients and Matters

Overview
Vinson & Elkins has a comprehensive Export Control and Economic Sanctions practice. V&E lawyers have substantial experience representing clients in counseling, administrative, litigation, and public policy issues arising across the full range of U.S., foreign and international export controls and trade sanctions. Our lawyers are well known by industry coalitions, export-oriented trade groups, government regulators responsible for administering and enforcing U.S. export and sanctions laws, and in academic circles. In the last decade, V&E lawyers have provided training to hundreds of corporate and government export control specialists through seminars and law school instruction.

V&E lawyers have experience representing clients before all of the federal agencies involved in the control of exports, including the Departments of State, Defense, Commerce, Treasury, Justice and Energy, as well as numerous independent agencies including NASA, and the various agencies of the intelligence community.

Our clients have ranged from individuals contemplating leisure travel in embargoed destinations to multinational corporations involved in highly regulated exports and technology exchanges of highly sensitive data, materials and products. We have represented hundreds of clients in the defense, intelligence, aerospace, electronics, computer hardware and software and telecommunications industries in export control matters, and also have substantial experience in the energy, heavy equipment, food and agriculture, and alcoholic beverage industries.

Export Controls
The Departments of Commerce, State, and Treasury, and other federal agencies administer a wide range of export control regulations, including rules governing re-exports of U.S. origin commodities, technical data, and software from third countries to other foreign destinations. In particular, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls of the Department of State administers controls over the export and re-export of defense articles, services and data. The Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce administers the controls over commercial and dual use equipment, software and technology. We advise foreign and domestic clients on these controls and assist them in obtaining necessary licenses and rulings from the appropriate agencies. We also represent companies and individuals faced with enforcement proceedings, and assist companies and trade associations to provide effective input to the public policy-making process both at the legislative and administrative levels.

Economic Sanctions
V&E lawyers counsel clients concerning the application of various economic sanctions programs, administered primarily by the Departments of the Treasury, State, and Commerce, to the activities of U.S. and foreign companies. Economic sanctions programs target countries such as Burma/Myanmar, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan, among others, and various persons and organizations, including certain designated narcotics traffickers and terrorists. Arms embargoes target a number of additional countries. In addition to counseling, we have obtained numerous licenses or other authorizations for transactions covered by sanctions regulations, and represented clients subject to civil and criminal enforcement proceedings arising under these rules.

Specific Experience
Classification and Licensing
V&E Export Controls and Economic Sanctions practice provides initial evaluations of new or existing products or technologies to determine which agencies may have jurisdiction to regulate their export or transfer of related technology. We prepare and submit commodity jurisdiction (CJ) determinations and classification requests. We provide our clients evaluation of eligibility for various license exceptions based on the nature of the item or technology, the proposed end-use and the end-user. Where a license or other permit is necessary, we have substantial experience in selecting among available licensing mechanisms (e.g., temporary or permanent import or export licenses, technical assistance agreements, manufacturing license agreements, encryption licensing arrangements, distribution agreements, etc.) and drafting applications to achieve desired flexibility for our clients. We have frequently arranged meetings with policy or technical staff at appropriate agencies to discuss license applications and assist in arranging mutually satisfactory conditions or provisos.

Compliance
Our lawyers have substantial experience in assisting clients in complying with export controls and embargo regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the many embargo regulations issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). We provide advice on the interpretation and interaction of various regulations, and on the license conditions and provisos which often accompany licenses granted by the government. We frequently conduct export compliance audits for our clients, and have extensive experience in providing seminars and training programs tailored to our client's individual export control issues and to the effect of various arms or economic embargoes on their particular business relationships and models.

Enforcement and Litigation
We have substantial experience in conducting internal investigations for our clients related to alleged export control or sanctions violations, and have defended companies involved in investigations and enforcement proceedings before all of the major regulatory agencies. Our lawyers frequently assist in the preparation of voluntary disclosures to the government of potential regulatory violations, assist in preparing corrective action plans, and take the lead in negotiating agreements between our clients and the government regarding penalties and pending and future export authorizations. We have also defended companies in both civil and criminal enforcement actions conducted by the Department of Justice and other agencies, and in U.S. Customs Service seizures.

Foreign and Multilateral Controls
V&E lawyers are available to track changes in the export control and licensing laws of foreign countries in a number of sensitive areas including encryption and software controls. Our lawyers have substantial experience in dealing with and tracking the effect of decisions in multilateral agencies and organizations, including the U.N. 661 Committee, which regulates trade with Iraq, and the various informal arrangements for coordinating export control policies such as the Wassenaar arrangement, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and Missile Technology Control Regime.

• Represented a major aerospace company in a DOJ investigation of potential ITAR violations in a joint venture with Russian companies, and freeze on processing of company's further export license applications for the project
• Represented a large U.S. oil field service company in connection with criminal and civil investigations and settlements of multiple alleged violations of U.S. re-export control regulations and the Libyan Sanctions Regulations
• Testified as an expert witness for the accused in a case arising under an indictment for various alleged violations of the Arms Export Control Act; the same attorney was later appointed by the court to monitor the company’s export compliance
• Served as expert witness in litigation in which interpretations of the Burma (Myanmar) Sanctions Regulations and Yugoslavia Sanctions Regulations were at issue
• Investigated and presented numerous voluntary disclosures under the Export Administration Regulations and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations
• Defended a major aerospace company against a multi-million dollar civil sanctions charge brought by the Department of State’s Office of Defense Trade Controls (ODTC)
• Represented both individuals and a company in export denial proceedings brought before the International Trade Administration (ITA); after an emergency hearing which we requested, we negotiated a settlement in which all charges were dropped against both an individual and the company who were charged as related parties; as a result, the company was able to continue conducting business without threat of a denial order
• Prepared Commodity Jurisdiction Determination requests to ODTC, which have resulted in the removal of ITAR controls over our clients’ products and technology
• Prepared or assisted in the preparation of Technical Assistance Agreements (TAAs), Manufacturing License Agreements (MLAs), and other licenses for the export of controlled equipment and technology
• Represented a U.S. aviation company in connection with allegations that it had violated the Yugoslavia sanctions regulations.  Following our internal investigation and response to the initial claims, the Treasury Department terminated its investigation without filing charges
• For a major European telecommunications company in what apparently was a first request, obtained authorization from the Department of Commerce under certain de minimis U.S. content rules of Export Administration Regulations for the commingling of U.S.-origin and foreign software integrated into European-made products destined potentially for re-export to countries that remain subject to U.S. embargoes
• Represented several companies before the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury in civil enforcement proceedings involving alleged violations of various economic sanctions regulations.  All matters were either terminated without action or settled on favorable terms for our clients
• Represented two individuals in administrative proceedings brought under the Export Administration Regulations following the settlement of criminal charges against them.  The charges arose out of their involvement in allegedly unlawful exports of U.S.-origin aircraft parts to Libyan end users; despite the guilty pleas previously entered by our clients, we successfully presented facts and arguments leading to a settlement that included only minor civil penalties against one individual and none against the other
• Represented the U.S. branch of a Middle East trading company in proceedings before the U.S. Department of Commerce involving alleged violations of the antiboycott regulations.  The charges were settled on a favorable basis for our client
• Prepared new or revised international business corporate compliance programs for numerous clients, and assisted in internal training of management and employers concerning relevant U.S. trade laws.
• Advised internet clients on the application of U.S. sanctions and export controls to international transactions online