New-Jersey-based Advanced Orientation Systems entered into a settlement agreement with the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) pursuant to which it agreed to pay a $31,500 to settle charges that it shipped 11 “tiltometers” to Mayrow General Trading Company in August 2006. BIS agreed to waive $16,500 of this penalty if AOS committed no further export violations for one year. Exports to Mayrow General Trading Company without a BIS license are prohibited under BIS’s General Order No. 3.

AOS appears to be a relatively small company and not an experienced exporter, so it’s not surprising that it was unaware of the prohibitions of General Order No. 3, and there is no allegation in the charging documents that AOS was engaged in an intentional violation of BIS rules. Indeed, General Order No. 3 was promulgated by BIS in June 2006, only two months prior to the exports in question. This probably accounts for the relatively small fine agreed to by BIS.

One humorous aspect of the charging papers is that BIS continually insists on referring to the exported equipment as “tiltometers,” even though there is no such thing as a “tiltometer.” Maybe they were thinking about Tilt ‘O Wheels or something.

The correct term is an “inclination sensor,” which is the term used by AOS on its own website. A quick Google search of “tiltometer” would have revealed that this term refers only to a digital camera project by some English computer geeks who hung some plumb weights and protractors from a camera and to an Internet test, part of the Texas Information Literacy Tutorial about the best way to research certain questions. I guess the folks at BIS still don’t have access to the Internet.

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