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Enforcement Release: September 24, 2020
OFAC Settles with Keysight Technologies Inc., as Successor Entity to Anite Finland OY, with Respect to Potential Civil Liability for Apparent Violations of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations
Keysight Technologies, Inc. (“Keysight”), a company based in Santa Rosa, California, on behalf of its former Finnish subsidiary, Anite Finland Oy (“Anite”), has agreed to pay $473,157 to settle its potential civil liability for reexports of U.S. export-controlled test measurement equipment to Iran. Anite had business with Iran prior to its acquisition by Keysight in August 2015. After Keysight’s acquisition of Anite, and after Keysight implemented its policy to restrict sales to Iran, Anite employees nonetheless continued sales to Iran and obfuscated such sales from Keysight. Keysight and Anite subsequently implemented remedial measures intended to prevent future unauthorized sales.
Description of the Apparent Violations and the Conduct Leading to the...
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1) The Keysight case is the first reported enforcement action that is based solely on violations of 560.205 of the ITSR, which applies to re-exports to Iran of "U.S.-origin" items by non-U.S. persons.
From a legal perspective, the basis for liability appears to be relatively straightforward. The applicability of 560.205 can be tricky as it relates to the question of whether a given item re-exported meets the 10 percent threshold, but that appears to have not been an issue here.
One thing that is notable about the way in which the enforcement action is written is that it confirms that the scope of "U.S.-origin goods or technology," as that term appears in 560.205, is limited to "goods that incorporate[] 10 percent or more of...