Title 50War and National DefenseRelease 119-73

§4611 Multilateral export control violations

Title 50 › Chapter CHAPTER 56— - EXPORT ADMINISTRATION › § 4611

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President must punish a foreign person for 2 to 5 years when he finds that the person broke export-control rules that countries in the Coordinating Committee use for national security, and that the break helped the Soviet or East bloc gain important military or critical technology (like submarine or antisubmarine systems, missile technology, strategic aircraft, command and control/communications/intelligence systems, or other critical tech) in a way that seriously hurts the strategic balance, based on advice from the National Security Council. The punishments apply to the guilty foreign person and to its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, and successors. The main punishments are: U.S. government agencies must not contract with or buy from the sanctioned person, and the person’s products may not be imported into the United States. The President must not apply those punishments in certain defense procurement or existing-contract situations, or for preexisting contracts, spare parts, essential component parts (not finished products), routine servicing and maintenance, or information and technology. The President can also limit or lift sanctions on related companies after consulting Congress if those companies did not knowingly violate the rules, their government has good export controls or has improved them, the company has fixed its internal controls, and the harm from sanctions would be unfair compared with U.S. added defense costs. The President must talk with the violating person and its government, and try to get compensation that matches U.S. and allied costs to develop and buy new defenses. The President must report to Congress when talks start and what happened. The President must also consult other Coordinating Committee governments and report actions to Congress, and must include the status of any sanctions and exceptions in the required annual report to Congress. The Secretary of Defense must calculate the U.S. costs to restore military readiness. The Attorney General may sue in U.S. court to recover those costs from the violator and controlling parties. Any such suit must start no later than 3 years after the violation or 1 year after discovery, whichever is later. Definitions (one line each): “component part” — an item that must be built into something else to work; “finished product” — an item that works on its own; “sanctioned person” — the foreign person and its related entities that are punished; “foreign person” — anyone who is not a United States person.

Full Legal Text

Title 50, §4611

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The President, subject to subsection (c), shall apply sanctions under subsection (b) for a period of not less than 2 years and not more than 5 years, if the President determines that—
(1)a foreign person has violated any regulation issued by a country to control exports for national security purposes pursuant to the agreement of the group known as the Coordinating Committee, and
(2)such violation has resulted in substantial enhancement of Soviet and East bloc capabilities in submarine or antisubmarine warfare, ballistic or antiballistic missile technology, strategic aircraft, command, control, communications and intelligence, or other critical technologies as determined by the President, on the advice of the National Security Council, to represent a serious adverse impact on the strategic balance of forces.
(b)The sanctions referred to in subsection (a) shall apply to the foreign person committing the violation, as well as to any parent, affiliate, subsidiary, and successor entity of the foreign person, and, except as provided in subsection (c), are as follows:
(1)a prohibition on contracting with, and procurement of products and services from, a sanctioned person, by any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States Government, and
(2)a prohibition on importation into the United States of all products produced by a sanctioned person.
(c)The President shall not apply sanctions under this section—
(1)in the case of procurement of defense articles or defense services—
(A)under existing contracts or subcontracts, including the exercise of options for production quantities to satisfy United States operational military requirements;
(B)if the President determines that the foreign person or other entity to which the sanctions would otherwise be applied is a sole source supplier of essential defense articles or services and no alternative supplier can be identified; or
(C)if the President determines that such articles or services are essential to the national security under defense coproduction agreements; or
(2)to—
(A)products or services provided under contracts or other binding agreements (as such terms are defined by the President in regulations) entered into before the date on which the President notifies the Congress of the intention to impose the sanctions;
(B)spare parts;
(C)component parts, but not finished products, essential to United States products or production;
(D)routine servicing and maintenance of products; or
(E)information and technology.
(d)The President shall not apply sanctions under this section to a parent, affiliate, subsidiary, and successor entity of a foreign person if the President determines that—
(1)the parent, affiliate, subsidiary, or successor entity (as the case may be) has not knowingly violated the export control regulation violated by the foreign person, and
(2)the government of the country with jurisdiction over the parent, affiliate, subsidiary, or successor entity had in effect, at the time of the violation by the foreign person, an effective export control system consistent with principles agreed to in the Coordinating Committee, including the following:
(A)national laws providing appropriate civil and criminal penalties and statutes of limitations sufficient to deter potential violations;
(B)a program to evaluate export license applications that includes sufficient technical expertise to assess the licensing status of exports and ensure the reliability of end-users;
(C)an enforcement mechanism that provides authority for trained enforcement officers to investigate and prevent illegal exports;
(D)a system of export control documentation to verify the movement of goods and technology; and
(E)procedures for the coordination and exchange of information concerning violations of the agreement of the Coordinating Committee.
(e)For purposes of this section—
(1)the term “component part” means any article which is not usable for its intended functions without being imbedded in or integrated into any other product and which, if used in production of a finished product, would be substantially transformed in that process;
(2)the term “finished product” means any article which is usable for its intended functions without being imbedded or integrated into any other product, but in no case shall such term be deemed to include an article produced by a person other than a sanctioned person that contains parts or components of the sanctioned person if the parts or components have been substantially transformed during production of the finished product; and
(3)the term “sanctioned person” means a foreign person, and any parent, affiliate, subsidiary, or successor entity of the foreign person, upon whom sanctions have been imposed under this section.
(f)The President may, after consultation with the Congress, limit the scope of sanctions applied to a parent, affiliate, subsidiary, or successor entity of the foreign person determined to have committed the violation on account of which the sanctions were imposed if the President determines that—
(1)the parent, affiliate, subsidiary, or successor entity (as the case may be) has not, on the basis of available evidence, itself violated the export control regulation involved, either directly or through a course of conduct;
(2)the government with jurisdiction over the parent, affiliate, subsidiary, or successor entity has improved its export control system as measured by the criteria set forth in subsection (d)(2);
(3)the parent, affiliate, subsidiary, or successor entity, has instituted improvements in internal controls sufficient to detect and prevent violations of the export control regime implemented under paragraph (2); and
(4)the impact of the sanctions imposed on the parent, affiliate, subsidiary, or successor entity is proportionate to the increased defense expenditures imposed on the United States.
(g)The President shall include in the annual report submitted under section 4616 11 See References in Text note below. of this title, a report on the status of any sanctions imposed under this section, including any exceptions, exclusions, or modifications of sanctions that have been applied under subsection (c), (d), or (f).
(h)If the President determines that a foreign person has violated a regulation issued by a country to control exports for national security purposes pursuant to the agreement of the group known as the Coordinating Committee, but in a case in which subsection (a)(2) may not apply, the President may apply the sanctions referred to in subsection (b) against that foreign person for a period of not more than 5 years.
(i)(1)In cases in which sanctions have been applied against a foreign person under subsection (a), the President shall initiate discussions with the foreign person and the government with jurisdiction over that foreign person regarding compensation on the part of the foreign person in an amount proportionate to the costs of research and development and procurement of new defensive systems by the United States and the allies of the United States to counteract the effect of the technological advance achieved by the Soviet Union as a result of the violation by that foreign person.
(2)The President shall, at the time that discussions are initiated under paragraph (1), report to the Congress that such discussions are being undertaken, and shall report to the Congress the outcome of those discussions.
(j)Upon making a determination under subsection (a) or (h), the President shall—
(1)initiate consultations with the foreign government with jurisdiction over the foreign person who committed the violation involved, in order to seek prompt remedial action by that government;
(2)initiate discussions with the governments participating in the Coordinating Committee regarding the violation and means to ensure that similar violations do not occur; and
(3)consult with and report to the Congress on the nature of the violation and the actions the President proposes to take, or has taken, to rectify the situation.
(k)(1)In any case in which the President makes a determination under subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall determine the costs of restoring the military preparedness of the United States on account of the violation involved. The Secretary of Defense shall notify the Attorney General of his determination, and the Attorney General may bring an action for damages, in any appropriate district court of the United States, to recover such costs against the person who committed the violation, any person that is owned or controlled by the person who committed the violation, and any person who owns and controls the person who committed the violation.
(3)22 So in original. Subsec. (k) was enacted without a par. (2). The total amount awarded in any case brought under paragraph (2) 2 shall be determined by the court in light of the facts and circumstances, but shall not exceed the amount of the net loss to the national security of the United States. An action under this subsection shall be commenced not later than 3 years after the violation occurs, or one year after the violation is discovered, whichever is later.
(l)For purposes of this section, the term “foreign person” means any person other than a United States person.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 4616 of this title, referred to in subsec. (g), was repealed by Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title XVII, § 1766(a), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 2232. Codification Section was formerly classified to section 2410a of the former Appendix to this title prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title

Pub. L. 100–418, title II, § 2441, Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1364, provided that: “This part [part II (§§ 2441–2447) of subtitle D of title II of Pub. L. 100–418, enacting this section, amending former section 4604 and 4616 of this title and section 1864 of Title 19, Customs Duties, and enacting provisions formerly set out as notes under section 2410a of the former Appendix to this title] may be cited as the ‘Multilateral Export Control Enhancement

Amendments

Act’.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

50 U.S.C. § 4611

Title 50War and National Defense

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73