US fines firm for selling to Pakistan without report

Dresser Incorporated, a multi-billion dollar manufacturer of energy infrastructure equipment, agreed to pay $9,000 in civil fines.

By MICHAEL FREUND
israel boycott 298.88 (photo credit: Associated Press [file])
israel boycott 298.88
(photo credit: Associated Press [file])
The US government has imposed a civil penalty on a prominent Texas-based firm for violating American legal strictures related to the Arab boycott of Israel. In a settlement announced on Friday, Dresser Incorporated, a multi-billion dollar manufacturer of energy infrastructure equipment, agreed to pay $9,000 in civil fines to settle charges leveled against it by the US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). The bureau, which oversees enforcement of US anti-boycott regulations, had alleged that "from January 2001 through January 2004 Dresser failed to report in a timely manner its receipt of nine requests to engage in a restrictive trade practice or boycott," according to a BIS release. Various Muslim and Arab states regularly ask foreign firms to supply documentation attesting that they have no business or financial ties to Israel. US law requires American companies to report requests for such information to the Commerce Department. In Dresser's case, the transactions in question all involved the sale of goods to Pakistan, which imposes restrictions on trade with Israel. The company did, however, voluntarily disclose the violations to the government, which acknowledged that Dresser had "cooperated fully with the subsequent investigation." "Although the company never took any action nor participated with any requests received, we had some situations where some of our employees did not timely report having received these requests, and therefore we did not inform the government within the prescribed time periods," a company spokesman told The Jerusalem Post in a telephone interview. "But we have made great progress," he added, noting that a new compliance department had been established within the firm to ensure conformity with the anti-boycott regulations. "Since this discovery, the company has timely filed its boycott reports, as required by the regulations," the spokesman said.