The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed temporary denial orders for three Russian airlines accused of violating U.S. export controls against Russia. BIS first suspended the export privileges of Aeroflot, Azur Air and UTair in 2022, barring the airlines from participating in transactions with items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (see 2204070010), and has renewed their denial orders several times (see 2309270004). BIS said all three airlines continue to "act in blatant disregard" for U.S. export controls by continuing to operate aircraft subject to the EAR. The orders include a table of recent flights operated by each airline.

U.S. companies and trade groups applauded a recent Bureau of Industry and Security rule that expanded the agency’s export control exemption for certain standards-setting activities, saying the change will help remove licensing barriers faced by American officials at international bodies working on emerging technology standards. But at least one group asked BIS to continue expanding the exemption to cover a wider set of technologies discussed in standards bodies involving the electronics, telecommunications and aviation industries.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is drafting a proposed rule that could revise its space-related export controls, including by adding new License Exception Commercial Space Activities (CSA).

Companies should continue to expect an “aggressive” U.S. sanctions enforcement landscape heading into next year, and should consider increasing the amount of due diligence they undertake if they haven’t already, panelists said during an event last week about sanctions compliance.

Export enforcement officials from the U.S., Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. met in Washington this week, where they warned businesses about complying with export controls against Russia and committed to expanding joint investigations to penalize violators.

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told a congressional panel Sept. 18 that he will look into the possibility of expanding the export control exemptions that the State Department intends to grant to Australia and the U.K. under the AUKUS security partnership.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is preparing a new interim final rule that would revise its space-related export controls “for changes made under Commerce authorities.” BIS sent the rule for interagency review Sept. 13. No further information was released.

After initially facing scrutiny for helping to facilitate Russia-related transactions, Cypriot banks have made significant progress in improving their compliance programs in recent months and are now adhering to all U.S. sanctions rules, the country’s top banking industry officials said this week. They also said they face hurdles implementing some of the sanctions, including potential legal challenges from customers.

The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a correction to the most recent annual revision of the Code of Federal Regulations that it said introduced an "editorial or technical error" to the Entity List. The change restores the entries for Kapil Raj Arora under the Netherlands and Orion Eleven Pvt. Ltd. under Pakistan. The notice was scheduled to be published in the Federal Register Sept. 16.

The next U.S. presidential administration will face a host of emerging technology issues in international trade, including advanced computing chips, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data centers, quantum and telecommunications infrastructure, said Nazak Nikakhtar, a Wiley Rein partner and a former acting Bureau of Industry and Security undersecretary.