Approximately twenty Yamaha facilities, including the corporate headquarters, were raided in January of this year, in connection with the Japanese government's investigation into sales of unmanned helicopters to China. Yamaha admits to selling nine remote-controlled helicopters to a Chinese aerial photography company with a history of dealings with the Chinese military.
The helicopters in question are not hobbyist remote controlled models, but twelve foot-long versions that fly at speeds of 85 miles per hour with their full payload. Despite successful past sales, the export of the tenth helicopter was halted when customs officials became aware that the documentation was incomplete. In January 2005, Japan banned the export to China of unmanned aircraft with five gallon payloads. The fear is that the aircraft, which are efficient crop sprayers, could be adapted to deliver chemical or biological weapons.
In addition to running up against the new payload restriction, Yamaha is under suspicion of securing approval for the radio-only model when it actually exported the programmable GPS model.
Yamaha would have certainly been aware of the change in the payload limitations, but staying abreast of the global export restrictions as a whole is a daunting task. Export regulations on subsidiaries, for example, would likely be governed by the export restrictions of both the home country and the host country. Just as Yamaha discovered in the case of its commercial products in Japan, many countries, including the United States, place restrictions on exports that have both commercial and military applications.
If you have any questions, contact Hisaka Yamamoto at hyamamoto@kmclaw.com or 801.328.3600.