The Bureau of Industry and Security has drafted and is preparing to soon publish an interim final rule that will introduce a 50% rule for parties on the Entity List and Military End-User List, according to a copy of the rule seen by Export Compliance Daily. The rule would impose the same export license requirements as the parent company for any affiliate owned 50% or more by an entity on those two lists, and it includes a 60-day temporary general license to authorize certain transactions with some non-listed entities before the new restrictions apply.

China on Sept. 25 added three U.S. companies to its Unreliable Entity List for arms sales to Taiwan and three others to its Export Control List because they “endanger” Chinese national security, the Ministry of Commerce said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is working to issue a final rule for a set of regulations that in January placed new export controls on certain lab equipment that can be misused by "countries of concern" for military purposes (see 2501150020). The rulemaking, sent for interagency review Sept. 23, will finalize those revisions to "address the accelerating development and deployment of advanced biotechnology tools contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests," BIS said.

Taiwan is probing the business credentials of a Taiwanese company added to the Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List earlier this month (see 2509120077), Taiwan's International Trade Administration said, according to an unofficial translation. The company, Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics, is a "representative office of a Hong Kong company in Taiwan," and an "investigation revealed that the representative office does not possess import and export qualifications," Taiwan said. "The Ministry of Economic Affairs will further verify whether the representative office's actual operations are consistent with its original application."

Although there remains a “contentious” debate around how exactly the U.S. should impose export controls on high-end AI chips, White House adviser Jacob Helberg said he believes the Trump administration will find a way to restrict the most sensitive technologies while still making sure the rest of the world relies on AI hardware, software and models exported from the U.S., not from China. Helberg said he expects the administration to provide clearer answers in the coming months.

Ross Kennedy, the founder of an advisory firm who joined the Bureau of Industry and Security in March (see 2504030073), has been named the acting assistant secretary of export enforcement, according to the agency's website and Kennedy's LinkedIn page. The agency is awaiting Senate confirmation for its permanent enforcement chief (see 2507230053). Kennedy, who previously was a BIS senior adviser, replaces John Sonderman, who is listed as the principal deputy assistant secretary for export enforcement.

Chinese semiconductor company Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. accused the Bureau of Industry and Security of illegally withholding documents related to its placement on the Entity List, adding that the government acted on "inaccurate" information from YMTC competitors when it imposed stringent export license requirements on the company in 2022. The firm also questioned whether the End-User Review Committee, the interagency group that makes decisions on adding or removing companies from the Entity List, followed proper protocol when it voted to put YMTC on the list.

Planet Labs, a California-based Earth imaging company, disclosed this month that it has submitted a voluntary self-disclosure to the Bureau of Industry and Security about potential export control violations.

To crack down on Hong Kong’s significant role in sanctions evasion, the U.S. should increase funding for the Bureau of Industry and Security’s budget, pass pending anti-money laundering legislation and sanction banks involved in the Chinese territory’s illicit trade, a Hong Kong expert said Sept. 18.

The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed temporary denial orders for three Russian airlines accused of violating U.S. export controls against Russia.