[UPS letterhead]
March 14, 2011
VIA EDGAR
Cecilia D. Blye
Chief, Office of Global Security Risk
Division of Corporation Finance
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20549-7010
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Re: |
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United Parcel Service, Inc.
Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2009
Filed February 26, 2010
File No. 1-15451 |
Dear Ms. Blye:
We respond to comments received from the staff (the Staff) of the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the Commission) by letter dated December 20, 2010 regarding the filing listed above
by United Parcel Service, Inc. (except as otherwise set forth herein, references to the Company
or UPS include any or all of United Parcel Service, Inc. and its subsidiaries). Our responses
repeat the captions and comments contained in the Staffs December 2010 letter, and we have
numbered them to correspond to the comment numbers in the Staffs letter.
General
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1. |
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Please describe your contacts with Syria since your letter to us of July 10, 2006. |
As stated in the Companys letter of July 10, 2006 to the Staff (the July 2006 UPS Letter),
UPS is a global package delivery company and a provider of supply chain solutions, which include
specialized freight transportation and logistics services. The Company does not have business ties
with the Government of Syria nor does it have any subsidiaries, offices, facilities, employees or
other assets located in Syria. Company policy permits package delivery and freight services to
and from Syria only to the extent that such activities comport with U.S. law. Package deliveries
allowed by law are made through a contractor relationship with Thebe Company and freight services
in Syria are provided through a contractor relationship with Al Massri Cargo and Transport of
Damascus, both of which are independent private companies located in Syria.
Ms. Cecilia D. Blye
Securities and Exchange Commission
March 14, 2011
Page 2
As previously explained, the Company has implemented controls, both in the United States and
abroad, which are designed to ensure that package delivery and freight services for Syria comply in
all respects with applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. laws prohibiting exports and
re-exports to Syria of goods, software or technology that are subject to U.S. export controls and
prohibiting any activities by U.S. persons involving designated Syrian persons or entities.
Further information about the Companys contacts with Syria is provided below in our response to
Comment 2.
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2. |
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We note that two Chinese freight forwarders (Forwarder Express and Guangzhou Gongcheng
Import & Export Service Co.) state on their websites that they provide UPS and other
express courier services from Shenzhen, China to Tehran and Abadan, Iran. These companies
websites include the UPS logo on the pages which list these services. We also note an Air
Freight peak season surcharge table on your website which lists surcharge amounts for
regions including Latin America and Europe, Middle East, Africa in the Destination section.
According to the notes section, the destinations listed include Cuba under Latin America
(All Other Countries) and Iran, Sudan and Syria under Europe, Middle East, Africa.
Iran, Sudan and Cuba are identified by the U.S. State Department as state sponsors of
terrorism and are subject to U.S. economic sanctions and export controls. Please describe
to us the nature and extent of your past, current, and anticipated contacts with Iran,
Sudan and Cuba whether through affiliates, distributors, resellers, subsidiaries, or other
direct or indirect arrangements. Your response should describe
any services or
products you have provided to Iran, Sudan or Cuba and any agreements, commercial
arrangements, or other contacts you have had with the governments of Iran, Sudan or Cuba,
or entities controlled by these governments. Please also provide this information for
Syria. |
With respect to Forwarder Express and Guangzhou Gongcheng Import & Export Service Co., the two
Chinese freight forwarders specifically mentioned in Comment 2, neither of these entities has any
business arrangement with the Company. Furthermore, the Company has not found any evidence that
there were any UPS shipments from any location in China to Iran through either entity. The Company
has demanded that each entity remove the UPS logo from its website in order to cease its
infringement of the Companys trademark.
Company policy generally prohibits the Company and all of its foreign subsidiaries from
providing services to, from or involving Cuba, Iran and Sudan, even with respect to many
transactions that are not prohibited or restricted by U.S. sanctions and export controls for those
countries. However, in certain limited circumstances when it is lawful for customers to undertake
activities in Iran, Sudan or Cuba, Company policy and procedures permit the Company to support
these customers by providing shipping services to or from these countries.
For example, U.S. law permits shipments to and from the United States of diplomatic pouches
and their contents, and in certain cases the U.S. Government issues specific licenses to entities
or persons (e.g., for exports of food, medicine and medical devices). Similarly, U.S. law permits
shipments to and from the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba as that territory is considered to be
under the jurisdiction or authority of the United States. The Companys service offerings in
Syria, which is subject to more limited sanctions, are described in the Companys response to
Comment 1.
Ms. Cecilia D. Blye
Securities and Exchange Commission
March 14, 2011
Page 3
With respect to the listing of surcharge amounts for Iran, Cuba, Sudan and Syria noted on the
Air Freight peak season surcharge table, located on the UPS website, this information is provided
only for transactions, as explained above, that are permitted by U.S. law or a specific license
issued by the cognizant U.S. government agency and permitted by Company policy and procedures. As
previously noted, no other transactions involving these countries are permitted under relevant UPS
policies and procedures.
The Company has no agreements, commercial arrangements, or other contacts with the governments
of Iran, Sudan, Cuba or Syria, or entities controlled by these governments, except that the
Companys aircraft fly through airspace controlled by Iran, Cuba and Syria, for which it makes
immaterial payments known as overflight fees to the governments of these countries. Such
payments are allowed under U.S. law. The Company makes payments either directly or through a
vendor located in the United Arab Emirates. On rare occasions, the Company will contact the
government authorities if there is an issue with a flight or if there are questions regarding route
structure within their airspace.
The Company is committed to maintaining strict compliance with its policies and with all
applicable U.S. export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations restricting dealing in
or with Iran, Sudan, Cuba or Syria. To that end, the Company has allocated significant resources
to develop, implement and maintain a robust export compliance program, which includes written
policies and procedures, dedicated personnel, automated screening, training and outreach, audits
and recordkeeping.
For package delivery, the Company has established procedures that are designed to prohibit all
service by any UPS entity involving Iran, Sudan or Cuba, and our internal review of Company
transactions in preparing this response to the Staffs comments confirms that there were no package
shipments to Cuba, Iran or Sudan for the period January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2010. Package
service to Syria is permitted only when originating from the Europe and Asia Regions, and packages
destined for Syria are routed through Dubai, UAE where they are subject to additional screening for
compliance to ensure that contents are not subject to U.S. export controls per applicable U.S.
sanctions. During the period July 10, 2006 through December 31, 2010, UPS rejected at least 55 shipments destined for Syria because they were
determined to be impermissible under U.S. export controls.
For freight and customs brokerage services, the Company has procedures that are designed to
prohibit these services by U.S. persons in relation to Iran, Sudan or Syria, and by any UPS entity
globally in relation to Cuba, except in limited circumstances as explained above where shipments to
or from these countries not prohibited by U.S. law or are authorized by a specific license issued
by the cognizant U.S. Government agency. Such permitted transactions must be cleared through a
strict internal approval process conducted by the UPS Customs & Trade Compliance group. As in any
high volume business operating in a tightly regulated
Ms. Cecilia D. Blye
Securities and Exchange Commission
March 14, 2011
Page 4
environment, isolated deviations from policy and procedure occasionally take place, due to human
error or unintended gaps in compliance coverage. When the Company identifies a violation of policy
or procedure, it investigates the matter and takes appropriate action, including disciplinary
measures, enhancement of internal compliance procedures, and, as appropriate, discloses its
findings to the proper U.S. authorities.
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3. |
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Please discuss the materiality of any contacts with Iran, Syria, Sudan or Cuba
described in response to the foregoing comments and whether those contacts constitute a
material investment risk for your security holders. You should address materiality in
quantitative terms, including the approximate dollar amounts of any associated revenues,
assets, and liabilities for the last three fiscal years and subsequent interim period.
Also, address materiality in terms of qualitative factors that a reasonable investor would
deem important in making an investment decision, including the potential impact of
corporate activities upon a companys reputation and share value. As you may be aware,
various state and municipal governments, universities, and other investors have proposed or
adopted divestment or similar initiatives regarding investment in companies that do
business with U.S.-designated state sponsors of terrorism. Your materiality analysis should
address the potential impact of the investor sentiment evidenced by such actions directed
toward companies that have operations associated with Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. |
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Quantitative materiality. |
For each of the years ending December 31, 2008, 2009 and 2010, aggregate revenues to the
Company from all business activities related to Iran, Sudan, Cuba and Syria were less than 0.005%
of the consolidated revenue of the Company for each period. The revenues from business activities
related to Iran, Sudan, Cuba and Syria as a percentage of the Companys revenues are clearly well
below any reasonably accepted threshold of quantitative materiality.
In addition, the Company has no subsidiaries, offices, facilities, employees or other assets
located in Iran, Sudan, Cuba or Syria, and has not maintained any assets in these countries during
the relevant fiscal years.
The Company does not have any subsidiaries, offices, facilities, facilities, employees or
other assets in Cuba, Iran, Syria or Sudan. Company policy generally prohibits the Company and its
foreign subsidiaries from supporting customer activities in these countries (except in limited
situations as explained above where the customers transaction is permitted under U.S. law), even
though U.S. sanctions law does not apply to the Companys foreign subsidiaries in the case of Iran
and Sudan. Accordingly, Company policy exceeds the requirements of U.S. law in many respects. The
Company does not believe that these limited activities are harmful to the Companys reputation or
share value because the Companys activities in Cuba, Iran and Sudan are undertaken only when the
U.S. Government has determined that those activities should be
Ms. Cecilia D. Blye
Securities and Exchange Commission
March 14, 2011
Page 5
permitted despite the otherwise comprehensive sanctions imposed against these countries, and the
Companys activities in Syria comport fully with the more limited U.S. sanctions imposed against
that country.
UPS is an international shipping company that is expected to be capable of providing global
services to its customers. The Company does not believe the fact that the Company provides its
customers with services that allow them to ship goods to Cuba, Iran, and Sudan when permitted by
the U.S. Government, or to provide shipping services involving Syria that are permissible under
U.S. law, would be deemed important (or qualitatively material) to a reasonable investor in making
an investment decision. This is particularly so given that the Company is holding its foreign
subsidiaries to the same standard even though that is not required by U.S. law and it has
implemented systems designed to detect shipments that contravene U.S. laws and thereby help to
ensure that its customers comply with U.S. Government sanctions against state sponsors of
terrorism.
Accordingly, the Company believes that any contacts the Company has had with Iran, Sudan, Cuba
and Syria are not and were not qualitatively or quantitatively material to the Company, its
financial condition or its results of operations, and do not warrant any changes in the Companys
prior filings with the Commission.
UPS acknowledges that it is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in its
filings with the Commission. The Company acknowledges that Staff comments or changes made in
response to Staff comments do not foreclose the Commission from taking any action regarding the
filings. The Company also acknowledges that it may not assert Staff comments as a
defense in any proceeding initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal securities
laws of the United States.
Please do not hesitate to call the undersigned at (404) 828-7239 if you have further
questions.
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Sincerely yours,
United Parcel Service, Inc.
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By: |
/s/ Norman M. Brothers, Jr.
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Norman M. Brothers, Jr. |
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Vice President |
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