Two nominees to lead the Bureau of Industry and Security said they will prioritize stopping illegal technology exports to China and are willing to bypass multilateral controls on certain sensitive technologies if unilateral restrictions are warranted. But Alan Estevez, President Joe Biden’s nominee for BIS undersecretary, and Thea Kendler, the nominee for assistant secretary for export administration, also stressed that export control cooperation with allies is crucial and committed to working to convince trade partners to adopt more controls.
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent an interim final rule for interagency review that could affect certain information security export controls for cybersecurity items. The rule, received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Sept. 17, builds upon a proposed rule published by BIS in 2015 that was intended to gather feedback on new Wassenaar Arrangement controls on some cybersecurity items. At the time, BIS said public comments “revealed serious scope and implementation issues regarding these controls,” so the agency returned to Wassenaar to renegotiate the controls. The interim final rule, if approved and published, could outline the “progress” BIS made during the renegotiation and make changes to the Commerce Control List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments from the public on information related to the supply chains for critical sectors of the information and communications technology industrial base, the agency said in a notice. The comments will help the Commerce Department prepare a report on issues in the ICT supply chain, which was mandated by a February executive order (see 2102240068).
An investment and research firm expects the Bureau of Industry and Security to issue several proposed rules for export controls related to semiconductors this fall and said BIS is considering other restrictions on certain Chinese technology companies. In a Sept. 17 report, the Cowen Washington Research Group said BIS is “likely” to soon issue several notices of proposed rulemaking to request industry comment on new controls for semiconductor capital equipment, mostly so the U.S. is prepared with new proposals for the next Wassenaar Arrangement cycle.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should establish a blanket exemption for U.S. people and companies to participate in standards-setting bodies that have members designated on the Entity List, industry officials said. Although BIS has been working on a final rule (see 2012150037) that would clarify how export restrictions apply to the release of controlled technology at standards-setting organizations, officials from the telecommunications industry and other technology sectors are unsure how the rule’s final language will read and are concerned some of the agency’s restrictions, which they view as unnecessary, may continue.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments on an information collection related to the Biden administration's review of risks in the semiconductor supply chain (see 2103110047 and 2107280051), BIS said Sept. 14. BIS is seeking feedback from industry to better “identify data gaps and bottlenecks in the supply chain.” BIS said the Commerce Department’s “overall goal” is to “add transparency on the semiconductor supply and demand mismatch and identify common bottlenecks and chokepoints.” Comments are due within two days of the publication of the notice on the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website. See the notice for search terms on the OIRA website.
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The Bureau of Industry and Security this week sent a final rule for interagency review that would expand export controls on certain biological equipment software. The rule, received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Sept. 13, would amend the Commerce Control List by adding a new Export Control Classification Number to control software “for the operation of automated nucleic acid assemblers and synthesizers” that are “capable of designing and building functional genetic elements from digital sequence data.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security revoked the export privileges of a Chilton, Wisconsin, man after he was convicted Dec. 13, 2019, of violating the Arms Export Control Act, the agency said in a September order. Andy Lloyd Huebschmann was convicted of illegally exporting defense articles to Australia, BIS said, including a “Model GA 9mm lower receiver, upper receiver, barrel, trigger control group, bolt carrier, and pistol grip,” all controlled under the U.S. Munitions List. BIS said Huebschmann didn’t have the required State Department export license to ship the items. He was sentenced to two years in prison, one year of supervised release, a $15,000 criminal fine and a $100 “assessment.” BIS revoked Huebschmann’s export privileges for 10 years from the date of conviction.
The Bureau of Industry and Security completed an interagency review Sept. 10 of a rule that would make changes to its Strategic Trade Authorization license exception. The proposed rule, sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs June 13 (see 2107150004), would clarify the availability and expand restrictions on the availability of license exception STA under the Export Administration Regulations. BIS withdrew a similar rule from consideration last year to allow for more informal talks within the interagency (see 2011130008).