The Bureau of Industry and Security on Oct. 27 announced an immediate 90-day suspension of new export licenses for certain firearms, components and ammunition while it reviews its firearms policies to determine whether any permanent changes are “warranted.” During the next 90 days, the agency said it will not issue any new licenses for those exports to non-government end users worldwide, apart from Ukraine, Israel or a nation listed in Country Group A:1.

The Bureau of Industry and Security on Nov. 6 will hold a public briefing on its recently updated export controls on advanced semiconductors and chipmaking equipment (see 2310170055). The briefing, which also will cover the agency’s addition this month of 13 Chinese semiconductor and technology companies to the Entity List (see 2310170063), will be led by Assistant Secretary for Export Administration Thea Kendler, who will “address important aspects” of the new restrictions.

The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review that would make corrections to the Export Administration Regulations. The rule, sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Oct. 23, would “correct inadvertent errors to two recent” BIS Federal Register notices and would be “merely technical corrections,” the agency said.

The U.S. is not using its export controls for “economic protectionism” and is committed to a narrow, “targeted” approach to restrictions on advanced technologies, Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said in Japan last week. “We are laser focused on national security, and the controls we put in place are focused on select advanced technologies that have strategic applications,” Estevez said during the Mount Fuji Dialogue, an annual summit of U.S. and Japanese representatives. “We are strictly adhering to the small yard, high fence concept in applying our export controls.”

The Bureau of Industry and Security revoked the export privileges of a Georgia resident after she admitted to trying to illegally export about $25,000 worth of optical sighting devices from the U.S. to China. As part of a settlement agreement, Dina Zhu of Lawrenceville, Georgia, will be barred from participating in any transaction subject to the Export Administration Regulations for one year from Oct. 20, but she won’t face a fine.

The U.S. government has informed American chip designer Nvidia that several of its products are subject to the new export controls unveiled by the Bureau of Industry and Security last week despite BIS saying the rules wouldn’t take effect until next month.

The U.S. should "lift" its newest semiconductor export controls on China "as soon as possible," China's Ministry of Commerce said Oct. 18, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry said the moves abuse export control measures, "generalize the concept of national security" and are "unilateral bullying." The country "will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests." The new controls were announced in two rules by the Bureau of Industry and Security this week (see 2310170055).

The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a proposed rule for interagency review that could make clarifications and updates to the Defense Priorities and Allocations System Regulation, which is used to prioritize certain defense-related contracts and orders. BIS sent the rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Oct. 17.

The Commerce Department’s long-awaited routed export rule continues to face delays due to a lack of agency resources and attention, said Gerry Horner, chief of the Census Bureau’s Trade Regulations Branch. Horner said both Census and the Bureau of Industry and Security currently “just don't have the resources” to make progress on the effort.

The Bureau of Industry and Security on Oct. 18 placed its two new China chip export control rules on public inspection for publication in the Federal Register, which set the effective dates for both rules (see 2310170055).