Our audit objective was to assess the adequacy of actions BIS has taken to enforce export controls for China. We specifically assessed whether BIS conducted post-shipment verifications for China and Hong Kong within the required timeframes and took the required steps to hold potential violators accountable for noncompliance with export control regulations.
We found that BIS is not effectively monitoring post-shipment verifications for exported items of concern to China and Hong Kong. For the open verifications we reviewed, BIS management did not ensure that the verifications had been conducted, consistently review and approve completed verifications within the timeframes outlined in BIS guidance,
or effectively use the verifications to hold potential violators accountable.
We made two recommendations to BIS to improve its quality control and monitoring of post-shipment verifications.
