The Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) said late on Friday that a Taiwanese firm reported to have illegally sold components to help Iran with its nuclear program did not breach international rules on the proliferation of nuclear arms.
The bureau said that after a thorough investigation, it was found that the company had not violated international regulations when it sold 108 pressure transducers to Iran in March because the item was not included on a list of strategic high-tech commodities (SHTC) in Taiwan at the time.
The bureau has reported the result of its probe to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which is the international body in charge of stopping nuclear arms proliferation, bureau officials said.
The investigation came after the UK’s Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month that a Taiwan-based company had sold Iran 100 pressure transducers that the Middle Eastern country could use to enrich weapons grade uranium.
The report added that the equipment, which it said was banned for sale to Iran by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, was believed to have been originally manufactured in Europe, but then sold to Iran through intermediaries based in Taiwan.
The bureau officials said the Taiwanese company imported the 108 pressure transducers from Switzerland, then sold them with approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to Iran in March before the world body issued an advisory saying that the item had been listed on the SHTC control list.
The deal at that time did not violate either Taiwan’s export regulations or international norms, the officials said.
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