WASHINGTON: The US Commerce Department said on Wednesday (Aug 31) it had suspended the export privileges of a Belgian company and its owner for 180 days for attempting to send sensitive technology to China in violation of US regulations.
Hans De Geetere and Belgium-based Hasa-Invest bought or attempted to purchase accelerometers, which measures things like machine vibration and seismic activity, from a US firm on behalf of clients in China, including an aerospace contractor, the department wrote in an export ban order.
De Geetere and Hasa-Invest falsely told the US firm, which the department did not name but said has distributors in China and Germany, that the accelerometers were bound for clients in Europe, the order said.
At least some of the accelerometer orders were placed on behalf of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, a contractor for Beijing’s space program that is on Washington’s export control list, the order said.
“The use of accelerometers by the aerospace and defense industries, and Respondents’ false statements made to US companies to obtain the items, raises significant concerns of future violations,” the order said.
De Geetere and Hasa-Invest did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In one of De Geetere’s attempts, around April 2021, Hasa-Invest told the US firm it was buying the accelerometers for a Belgian government agency, the order said.
Another attempt that June involved two shipments from the US firm to a newly incorporated company in the United Arab Emirates that does not possess equipment requiring accelerometers, the order added.
The order said the department issued the US firm a letter informing it that a special license is required to export accelerometers to China.
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