Bosch and the Foreign Direct Product Rule: Lessons from the Export Controls and NSD Settlement

The award-winning Compliance into the Weeds is the only weekly podcast that takes a deep dive into a compliance-related topic, literally going into the weeds to explore it in greater depth. Looking for some hard-hitting insights on compliance? Look no further than Compliance into the Weeds! In this episode of Compliance into the Weeds, Tom Fox and Matt Kelly discuss the recent Bosch export controls enforcement action involving two German subsidiaries that sold about $72 million in advanced microsensors and software to Huawei from 2020 to late 2024 Their actions violate U.S. export controls tied to the Foreign Direct Product Rule and 2020 “footnote one” restrictions. Although Bosch voluntarily self-disclosed, cooperated, remediated, disgorged profits, and received a DOJ criminal Declination, BIS imposed a $36.1 million civil penalty, citing fundamental compliance failures: an understaffed and underqualified export controls function, confusion between the de minimis rule and the foreign direct product rule (which has no de minimis exception), and mishandling repeated external warnings from business partners and suppliers. They highlight internal control and communication breakdowns (including external signals) and the need to build specialized export/sanctions compliance capacity, noting BIS issued a compliance framework in 2020 and offers training. Key highlights: Bosch case overview Understaffed compliance fallout Ignored partner warnings Declination and remediation COSO signals and controls Building export compliance muscle Resources Matt in Radical Compliance Tom in the FCPA Compliance Blog: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 posts on Thursday, June 25. Tom Instagram Facebook YouTube Twitter LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices