Of course, when it comes to adjusting benefits, the government could care less about the effects of inflation. However, when it comes to putting money in its pocket (as opposed to taking it out of the government till and putting it in yours), well, inflation is, all of a sudden, a huge issue. Just in case you were thinking of committing any export violations, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”) wants you to know that your penalty will be adjusted upward, as of August 1, 2016, to reflect inflation since 1985, the year in which the $500,000 per violation penalty was set. This adjustment will apply to all penalties assessed after that date even if the export occurred prior to that date.

So how much is an export violation going to cost now? Well, DDTC consulted the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) which told it, based on price increases, that the multiplier for penalties set in 1985 is 2.1182. This means the new penalty is a whopping $1,094,010 per violation. Evidently, Christmas occurs in August for DDTC this year. Although I’m not clear exactly how OMB computed that multiplier, I can verify that the difference in the Consumer Price Index between 1985 and 2016 is a multiple of around 2.23, so apparently the OMB was in a good mood and cut violators a little slack here.

Of course, for all of you who were checking your cash reserves and contemplating leaving the export business entirely, DDTC was quick to point out, in a statement on its website, that the increase “does not impede the discretion of [DDTC] to assess [penalties] lower than the maximum amount should circumstances warrant.” That’s cold comfort when lower means something lower than a million dollars.

Photo Credit: Money by Nick Ares [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Flickr https://flic.kr/p/55FLSR [cropped and processed]. Copyright 2008 by Nick Ares

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