Internal Compliance Programme or ICP means ongoing effective, appropriate and proportionate policies and procedures adopted by exporters to facilitate compliance with the provisions and objectives of the dual-use regulation and with the terms and conditions of the authorisations implemented under this Regulation, including, inter alia, due diligence measures assessing risks related to the export of the items to end-users and end-uses.

The European Commission (Recommendation (EU) 2019/1318 of July 30, 2019 on internal compliance programs for the control of trade in dual-use goods), the German Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control BAFA (Firmeninterne Exportkontrolle, March 2018), and the Bureau of Industry and Security BIS (Export Compliance Guidelines, January 2017) have established comprehensive criteria for an internal export compliance program. The core of these criteria can be structured as follows:

1. Commitment of the company management to the objectives of export control (Management Commitment)
2. Risk analysis
3. Distribution of responsibilities / reporting channels
4. Process organization (in particular export control auditing)
5. Retention of records (documentation)
6. Training and further education of employees
7. Process-related and system-related controls (ECP audit)
8. Dealing with export violations and corrective actionsTranslated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

These points must (!) guide the company’s internal export control. Because from the experience of the criminal defense lawyer in export criminal law: These eight points are also guidance for the investigations of the public prosecutor’s office and the customs criminal investigation office.