BIS to Deploy 'Dedicated' Official in Canada to Boost Enforcement

The Bureau of Industry and Security's top export enforcement official is in Canada this week to discuss improving U.S.-Canadian enforcement efforts. Matthew Axelrod, BIS assistant secretary for export enforcement, said he’s meeting with the Canada Border Services Agency and the Global Affairs Canada Royal Canadian Mounted Police to share information on Russian “diversion actors,” coordinate the “targeting and conduct of pre- and post-shipment verifications and audits,” upgrade efforts to “inspect, detain, and seize illicit shipments,” and work to “reduce threats through coordinated outreach, investigations, and enforcement actions.”

Speaking at a Jan. 31 export compliance conference during the 12th Annual Forum on U.S. Export & Re-export Compliance for Canadian Operations in Toronto, Axelrod also said BIS is looking to deploy a permanent, “dedicated” BIS official in Canada. The agency since last summer has stationed an analyst in Ottawa on a “rotating basis,” but Axelrod said this new position will be “the first time ever that BIS has embedded a full-time analyst outside of the United States” (see 2207010010 and 2201310036).

The U.S.-Canadian partnership is already working, he said, noting the two governments worked to stop an illegal shipment of drone antennas from Alaska last year. Axelrod also pointed to this week’s addition of seven Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle producers to the Entity List. "Canada’s export control regulations have restricted U.S.-origin goods destined to Iran since 1997, meaning that diverters can’t circumvent our regulations by transshipping through Canada or vice versa," he said. “Given the threat posed by Iran’s support for Russia’s war machine, our increasingly close bilateral relationship on export enforcement -- including our placement of an analyst in Ottawa -- better positions us to prevent U.S. and Canadian technologies from enabling Iran’s UAV program."