Bipartisan Bill Introduced to Use Data to Predict Sanctions, Export Control Evasion at Sea
A bipartisan bill that would require a pilot program to identify and predict vessels that could be evading sanctions or export controls was introduced last week by Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and James Lankford, R-Okla.
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The bill, which would require a four-year pilot program to begin 18 months after enactment, would have CBP use the National Targeting Center to assess whether it's feasible to predict or detect sanctions evasion by analyzing numerous factors, including the ownership and nationality of the vessel, shipper and importer; the type of goods on the vessel; where the vessel is headed; the ownership and nationality of vessels that were near the original vessel when the Automatic Identification System was disabled or being manipulated; and how often the ship had problems with that beacon.
If CBP suspects evasion, CBP should track whether interdiction of the ship was accomplished, and whether the enforcement agency was able to confirm that export controls or sanctions were being evaded. If evasion is confirmed, CBP will track what penalty was imposed; if it was not confirmed, CBP will track whether there was still action against the vessel "based on reasonable suspicion."
If there was no interdiction, CBP is to document where the vessel traveled, and whether it was to a country subject to sanctions or export controls, or to a country that DHS "has identified as a country posing a high risk of transshipment of goods."
At the end of the pilot, CBP would recommend whether this approach was useful for identifying and predicting evasion.