WATERLOO, Ontario, January 28, 2019. The Descartes Systems Group is to purchase the Visual Compliance business run by Management Systems Resources for US$250 million. The deal is expected to close in February subject stock exchange approval for the issuance of shares.

Visual Compliance provides software solutions and services to automate Customs, trade and fiscal compliance processes, with a focus on denied and restricted party screening processes and export licensing. The company is based in Canada and serves over 2,000 customers with over 67,500 subscribers operating in over 100 countries.

Denied/restricted party screening is the review of people, goods, services and/or commodities against comprehensive lists published by governments and international organizations identifying people, organisations and countries with whom it is illegal or restricted to transact business.

In the international trade context, governments around the world actively enforce compliance based on sanction lists, with avoidance resulting in large fines, revocation of export privileges and/or criminal prosecution. Descartes and Visual Compliance provide data, content and solutions to customers and partners, like SAP and Oracle, to enable comprehensive global trade compliance reviews to be completed.

“The penalties for doing business with sanctioned parties can be far reaching and severe,” said Ken Wood, EVP Product Management at Descartes. “By adding Visual Compliance’s solutions and domain expertise to our existing Descartes MK Data denied parties screening business and Global Logistics Network, we’re in an even stronger position to help our customers navigate the trade compliance landscape while managing the full lifecycle of their shipments.”

According to the US Department of Commerce, last month Eric Baird, former CEO of the Sarasota, FL-based package consolidation and shipping service Access USA Shipping, agreed to pay US$17 million for 166 violations of US Bureau of Industry and Security regulations. Baird pleaded guilty to violating US export control laws stemming from Access USA intentionally misrepresenting values and descriptions of items on export documentation, and shipping items listed on the Commerce Control List without the appropriate licenses.

On January 30 Baird is expected to receive two years probation on a single criminal charge.