Title 50War and National DefenseRelease 119-73not60

§4611 Multilateral Export Control Violations

Title 50 › Chapter 56— EXPORT ADMINISTRATION › § 4611

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President must impose penalties for at least 2 years and at most 5 years when a foreign person breaks export-control rules agreed to by the Coordinating Committee and that break greatly improves Soviet or East‑bloc military technology in areas like submarine or antisubmarine warfare, missile systems, strategic aircraft, command-and-control and intelligence systems, or other critical tech the President, advised by the National Security Council, finds seriously harms the strategic balance. The penalties ban U.S. government agencies from contracting with or buying from the sanctioned person and bar importing any products made by that person. The President can still exempt certain defense contracts (such as existing contracts, sole‑source suppliers when no alternative exists, or defense coproduction needs) and other narrow items (like contracts made before the President notifies Congress, spare parts, essential component parts but not finished products, routine maintenance, and information or technology). The penalties also apply to parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, and successors unless the President finds they did not knowingly violate rules and their government had effective export controls. The President may limit sanctions on related entities after consulting Congress if they did not violate rules, their government improved controls, they fixed internal controls, and the sanctions’ impact is proportionate. The President must consult affected governments, talk with Coordinating Committee members, start talks on compensation for U.S. and allied costs, and report to Congress when talks start and how they end. The Secretary of Defense must calculate costs to restore U.S. military readiness, and the Attorney General may sue to recover those costs; any court award cannot exceed the net loss to U.S. national security, and suits must start within 3 years after the violation or 1 year after discovery, whichever is later. Definitions (one line each): component part — an item that only works when built into a larger product; finished product — an item that works on its own (not including items from others that were substantially transformed); sanctioned person — the foreign person and its parent/affiliate/subs/successors subject to penalties; 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 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60