President Donald Trump signed the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, S. 1790 into law, with provisions targeting tech companies Huawei and ZTE (see 1912130027), the White House announced on Dec. 20. The law bars the Trump administration from lifting the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's addition of Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei to its export entity blacklist without congressional approval. The law also requires reports to Congress on waivers issued to companies doing business with Huawei as well as ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE.

The State Department published an interim final rule that will revise the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to provide definitions for activities that are not exports, re-exports, retransfers or temporary imports, the agency said in a notice in the Federal Register. The activities include launching items into space, providing technical data to U.S. people within the U.S. or “within a single country abroad,” and moving defense items within the U.S.

U.S. companies and exporters have not told the Trump administration that sanctions on Venezuela are hurting their business, according to Elliott Abrams, the State Department’s special representative for Venezuela. As the U.S. continues one of its most active sanctions regimes (see 1911190028) against a country it says is marred by corruption and human rights abuses, companies are becoming more understanding of U.S. foreign policy goals, Abrams said.

The end-of-the-year appropriations compromise worked out between the House and Senate will add tens of millions of dollars for trade enforcement and port technology. The bill, which is expected to pass the Senate by Dec. 20 and has already passed the House of Representatives, will also spend $54 million for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security issued a correction for end-user information in the Code of Federal Regulations, in a notice in the Federal Register. The notice corrects an entry for Ibrahim Haqqani under Afghanistan.

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's upcoming proposed rules on emerging technologies will be narrow, impacting only specific slices of technologies, according to a Dec. 17 Reuters report. Commerce is finalizing proposed rules on quantum diluted refrigerators, a rule regulating 3D printing for explosives, “Gate-All-Around Field Effect transistor technology” (GAAFET) and two rules restricting sales of chemicals used to make Russian nerve agent Novichok and “single-use chambers for chemical reactions,” Reuters said. A Commerce rule for GAAFET is in the proposed rule stage, according to a recent Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs notice. A top Commerce official recently pinpointed six categories in which the agency plans to propose the rules (see 1912160032), and BIS officials have said for months the rules will be narrow (see 1912160006, 1911200045 and 1906280057).

A bipartisan group of more than 45 lawmakers urged the Trump administration to impose strict sanctions on China’s treatment of its Uighur population, saying the October addition of 28 Chinese entities to the Commerce Department’s Entity List (see 1910070076) was not enough. “These measures were a first step that do not go far enough in ensuring accountability for China’s government and Communist Party,” the lawmakers said in a Dec. 12 letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's New England field offices are adding agents and increasing prosecutions and investigations, according to William Higgins, a special agent in charge of BIS’s Office of Export Enforcement. Higgins said the changes are particularly reflected in the OEE’s Boston office, which plans to increase staff to 14 agents before 2020. “There has been a sea change in the last few years, especially in the Boston area,” Higgins said, speaking during a Dec. 13 event hosted by the Massachusetts Export Center. “We’re increasing the amount of agents we have significantly.”

Douglas Hassebrok was appointed by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to be deputy assistant secretary for export enforcement in the Bureau of Industry and Security and acting assistant secretary for export enforcement, according to Jim Bartlett of Full Circle Compliance. Hassebrok was previously BIS director of the Office of Export Enforcement. John Sonderman was named to Hassebrok's previous role at BIS in an acting capacity, Bartlett said, citing agency sources. BIS didn't comment.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed cloture Dec. 12 on the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. S. 1790 includes language targeting Huawei and ZTE. McConnell’s cloture motion sets up a likely Senate vote this week. The House approved the measure Wednesday on a 377-48 vote. The House and Senate Armed Services committees released the conference text earlier in the week after months of work to blend the Senate- and House-passed (HR. 2500) measures. The conference version includes a modified text of House-side anti-Huawei language originally sought by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., that would modify conditions for the Commerce Department to lift the Bureau of Industry and Security’s addition of Huawei to its entity list. It would require Huawei to prove it “sufficiently resolved or settled” supply chain security issues that led to its inclusion on the BIS entity list. The Commerce Department has since approved Huawei-related export licenses for U.S. companies to have their products included in the Chinese telecom equipment maker's products. The conference NDAA also includes Gallagher’s proposal to direct the president to report to Congress on ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE.