The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) today issued a warning to Kureha Corporation and Krefine Co., Ltd. mainly to request them to strictly control their exports.

Kureha Corporation illegally exported carbon-fiber reinforced PEEK sheets to China and some other companies from December 2006 to April 2008 without obtaining permission from the METI Minister, while the product was subject to export control.

In addition, Krefine Co., Ltd. illegally exported carbon-fiber reinforced PEEK sheets to Singapore and some other companies from November 2008 to May 2009 without obtaining permission from the METI Minister, while the product was subject to export control.

These two companies falsely notified lower product prices to customs and, by inappropriately using an exception under the special provisions in Article 4, Paragraph 1, Item 5 of the Export Trade Control Order, exported the product without permission.

METI today gave a warning under the name of the Director-General, Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau to sternly alert the two companies making them aware that they should conduct strict export control, and to request their implementation of specific measures for recurrence prevention. METI also canceled the general blanket permission they obtained before.

Upon receiving the warning, the two companies reported that they had deeply reflected on the above export issue and that, in order to prevent similar cases in the future, they would improve the export control system and implement it extensively. They also represented that they would make every effort to prevent recurrence of any similar case with these measures.

Warning issued to:
Kureha Corporation
President and CEO: Takao Iwasaki
Address: 3-2, Nihonbashi-hamacho 3-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

Krefine Co., Ltd.
President: Koji Hagino
Address: 3-2, Nihonbashi-hamacho 3-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

February 27, 2012

Security Export Inspection Office, Trade Control Department, Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau