{"id":646774,"date":"2019-06-28T14:54:12","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T14:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"
\"Delivery<\/p>\n
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\"Delivery<\/div>\n

Delivery company FedEx has sued the US Department of Commerce for requiring it to enforce export bans with extra screening efforts. In a statement, FedEx complained of an unfair and \u201cimpossible burden\u201d of liability. \u201cFedEx is a transportation company, not a law enforcement agency,\u201d it says. The suit comes a few days after FedEx mistakenly refused to ship a Huawei phone because of potential legal issues.<\/p>\n

FedEx\u2019s complaint says the current Export Administration Regulations violate FedEx\u2019s Fifth Amendment rights. \u201cThe language of the EAR imposes a constitutionally unsupportable choice for FedEx,\u201d it says, claiming that FedEx has to either risk legal penalties or refuse to ship any package that seems even slightly risky.<\/p>\n

FedEx CEO Fred Smith told Fox News that Huawei shipping errors were emblematic of an ongoing problem, with export controls creating \u201cconfusing situations\u201d that tarnish the company\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross took issue with FedEx\u2019s interpretation of the law. The regulation, he said, only meant that carriers like FedEx \u201ccannot knowingly ship items\u201d that are banned by export controls. \u201cIt does not require a common carrier to be a policeman or to know what\u2019s in every package,\u201d he told Fox.<\/p>\n

FedEx has been accused of violating export controls before, though. The Department of Commerce fined it for shipping packages to a banned recipient between 2011 and 2012, saying FedEx \u201cknew or should have known\u201d its screening system missed slight variations of the company name. FedEx settled last year for more than $500,000. Conversely, the Chinese government recently said it\u2019s investigating FedEx for misrouting some Huawei parcels, so erring on the side of caution can cause its own problems.<\/p>\n

The government has placed several restrictions on US companies dealing with Huawei, partly because of an ongoing trade war with China and partly because of unclear security threats. There\u2019s no blanket ban on transporting Huawei products, but FedEx argues that under the current regulations, its employees are likely to make mistakes in the name of avoiding legal trouble.<\/p>\n

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