The Commerce Department’s unclear rollout of an export control on geospatial imagery software is causing industry confusion and could lead to broad, unintended impacts on exports of certain artificial intelligence, industry representatives said in interviews. If unchanged, the rule could severely impact a range of companies in the geospatial field, they said, creating the type of broad consequences Commerce officials hoped to avoid (see 1911070014).
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 13-17 in case you missed them.
U.S. restrictions on exports of personal protective equipment are not expected to have a significant impact on U.S. industry, particularly because most U.S. companies produce those goods overseas, trade observers said. Companies have been more heavily impacted by recently announced Chinese restrictions on medical exports, which have caused customs delays and a backlog of shipments, the U.S.-China Business Council said.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security this week postponed several upcoming export compliance seminars due to the COVID-19 pandemic response and announced an online-only export control conference for May. The online conference, which will run May 19-22, will cover a range of export compliance topics, BIS said, including the scope of the Export Administration Regulations, classifying items for export, using license exceptions, the de minimis and direct product rules, export enforcement and more. The conference will be hosted by “BIS specialists” during a daily three-hour session from 9 a.m. to noon. The conference will also include a question-and-answer session. Note that the conference is on Pacific Daylight Time.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security postponed its April export control seminar in Pennsylvania due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BIS said in a recent notice. The seminar, originally planned for April 15-16, will be rescheduled, BIS said.
The State Department is seeking comments on an information collection related to advisory opinion requests made by companies exporting defense goods or services, the State Department said in a notice. The collection applies to companies that seek opinions about whether the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls would be likely to grant a license for a particular defense export, the notice said. Comments are due June 1.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 16-20 in case you missed them.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security is operating normally and will continue to process export license applications amid the global response to curbing the COVID-19 pandemic, a BIS spokesperson said. “Operations are not impacted,” the spokesperson said. In notices to industry, the Census Bureau said it will continue responding to industry but requested electronic submissions for disclosures (see 2003180029), while the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said some licensing processing may face delays (see 2003190017).
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 9-13 in case you missed them.
The head of the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security revoked a shipping company’s export privileges for 15 years for export violations but ordered a review of the assessed fine, saying it was too high, according to a March 11 order. The company and its chairman -- Singapore-based Nordic Maritime Pte. Ltd and Morten Innhaug, respectively -- were originally fined more than $30 million by an administrative law judge, who also revoked the company’s export privileges until the fine was paid, according to the order. But Cordell Hull, BIS’s acting undersecretary, said the fine was too high, ordering the judge to review its decision to impose the penalty.