The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments, due March 15, on an information collection related to a request for appointment of a technical advisory committee, it said in a Jan. 14 notice. The collection describes the functions and responsibilities of the Commerce Department TACs. “The TACs advise the government on proposed revisions to export control lists, licensing procedures, assessments of the foreign availability of controlled products, and export control regulations.” the notice says.

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Jan. 12 completed a review of an interim final Bureau of Industry and Security rule that will expand certain end-use and end-user controls, and controls on “specific activities of U.S. Persons.” OIRA received the rule Dec. 14.

The Bureau of Industry and Security added one Chinese entity to its Entity List, another to its Military End User List and removed two Russian entities from the MEU List, the agency said in a final rule that is effective as of Jan. 14. The rule added China National Offshore Oil Corp. Ltd. (CNOOC) to its Entity List and designated Beijing Skyrizon Aviation Industry Investment Co., Ltd. as having ties to China’s military. It also removed Russia-based Korporatsiya Vsmpo Avisma OAO and Molot Oruzhie from the MEU List.

The Bureau of Industry and Security loosened its license review policy for exports of certain drones controlled under the Export Administration Regulations (see 2012150011). The move, following a similar announcement by the State Department in July (see 2007270035), will impose a case-by-case license review policy on certain unmanned aerial systems (UAS) as opposed to a review policy of presumption of denial. The change will impact drones controlled for missile technology (MT) reasons and that have a “range and payload capability equal to or greater than 300 kilometers/500 kilograms” and a “maximum true airspeed of less than 800 km/hour,” BIS said in a final rule. The agency said the case-by-case review policy will also apply to MT-controlled items for the design, development, production or use in such drones. The changes take effect Jan. 12.

The Bureau of Industry and Security removed three entities from its Unverified List after completing successful end-use checks, the agency said in a notice released Jan. 8. The notice removes Germany-based DMA Logistics GmbH and Halm Elektronik GmbH and Mexico-based Integrated Production and Test Engineering from the list after BIS verified their bona fides. The changes take effect Jan. 11.

The Bureau of Industry and Security amended the Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations and Export Administration Regulations to control new chemicals used in chemical weapons. The final rule, effective Jan. 7, aligns U.S. export controls with recent changes made by the multilateral Chemical Weapons Convention.

The Bureau of Industry and Security clarified and expanded the scope of export controls for certain vaccines and medical products (see 2012090006), the agency said in a final rule effective Jan. 7. The changes align U.S. export controls with decisions agreed to at the Australia Group’s 2019 plenary group. The updated controls also have implications for vaccines related to COVID-19, BIS said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security renewed its temporary export control on certain artificial intelligence software as it prepares to propose the control at multilateral control groups. The control, first issued in January 2020 (see 2001030024), placed unilateral restrictions on geospatial imagery software, adding it to the 0Y521 Temporary Export Control Classification Numbers Series. BIS extended the control for one year, effective Jan. 6, a notice said.

Four companies said they may have violated U.S. sanctions and export controls after providing products to blocked parties or not complying with licensing requirements, according to their Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The potential violations involve illegal exports of software, providing services to people in embargoed countries, and sanctioned airline activities.

The Bureau of Industry and Security December rule (see 2012220053) that removed Hong Kong as a separate destination under the Export Administration Regulations has implications for EAR requirements but does not impact certain Census Bureau reporting requirements, Census said. In a Dec. 29 email to industry, Census said the BIS rule does not change Census' Foreign Trade Regulations ultimate consignee, country of destination and intermediate consignee reporting requirements, which contribute to certain trade statistics.