HP : TO STOP SALES TO IRAN

[Anonymous]

http://www.dailytech.com/HP+Will+Tell+Distributor+Not+to+Sell+Products+to+Iran/article13909.htm
HP says it will stop distributor’s sales in Iran
Hewlett-Packard
said it has taken “further steps” to block the sale of its products in
Iran, after a newspaper reported that a distributor was selling HP
printers there despite a federal ban on exporting U.S. products to that
country.The Palo Alto computer giant has declined to comment directly
on a Dec. 29 report by The Boston Globe, which found that an
independent distributor based in Dubai was selling HP printers widely
in Iran. The Globe also cited a 1999 news report in which an HP
executive appeared to acknowledge the sales, despite a federal trade
ban that started four years earlier.The Clinton administration enacted
the economic boycott, which is still in effect, in the hope of
pressuring Iran to stop funding militant groups and to abandon its
nuclear development efforts. HP may have violated the law if the
company knowingly allowed the distributor to sell HP products in Iran,
according to trade experts cited by the Globe.

But a U.S.
company might not be liable for the actions of an independent
distributor, if the distributor sold products in Iran without the
manufacturer’s knowledge, said former prosecutor Michael Li-Ming Wong,
who ran the white-collar crime section for the U.S. attorney’s office
in San Francisco before joining private law firm Ropes & Gray. He
stressed that he wasn’t commenting on the specifics of the HP
situation.An HP representative declined Friday to say what the company
knew about sales of its printers in Iran.

HP, which says it “has
a policy of complete compliance with all U.S. export laws,” issued a
statement late Thursday that said it has clarified the terms of its
contracts with distributors “to explicitly prohibit the sale of HP
products in Iran.” The company also said it will monitor its Middle
Eastern distributors more closely.”Having recently examined the
situation, we believe it’s important to go beyond the letter of the
law,” the statement said, while stressing that HP does not sell any
products directly to Iran and does not have any employees or facilities
in that country.The Globe report included a description of HP printers
stacked high inside a Tehran storehouse. It said the distributor, an
Indian-owned company called Redington Gulf, had licensed Iranian
retailers to sell HP printers at various stores.

Redington Gulf
has posted a statement on its Web site in response to the newspaper
report.”Redington Gulf is an authorized distributor and an authorized
service provider in Middle East & Africa, for HP brand, amongst
other brands of global repute,” the statement said. “We sell authorized
products, to HP authorized customers, in authorized territories, in
line with HP’s policy guidelines.”

[Author]

January 12, 2009 at 3:38 PM