The Bureau of Industry and Security will add four Myanmar entities to the Entity List July 6 for their support of the country’s Ministry of Defense, including through funding and the provision of telecommunications services, the agency said in a notice. BIS will also correct the address for an existing Myanmar entity on the list. The companies “pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved” in activities contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, BIS said, adding that the license restrictions will support U.S. efforts to return democracy to Myanmar.

The Bureau of Industry and Security will add four Myanmar entities to the Entity List June 6 for supporting the country’s Ministry of Defense, including through funding and the provision of telecommunication services. BIS will also correct the address for an existing Myanmar entity on the list. For each of the new entities, BIS will impose a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and no license exceptions will be available. The entities will be subject to a license review policy of presumption of denial.

The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Fredericksburg, Virginia, military equipment manufacturer $200,000 for illegally exporting military-related items to military end-users in Russia, BIS said in a June 28 order. The company, Patriot 3, exported maritime jet boots with underwater propulsion systems despite having “knowledge” that the shipment violated the Export Administration Regulations, the order said. BIS said the boots, which were worth about $330,000 and exported in 2014, were controlled in connection with exports to military end-users or for military end-uses in Russia. Patriot 3 sent the boots to the Russian government’s Federal Guard Service, BIS said.

The multilateral Nuclear Suppliers Group met last week for the first time in more than a year to discuss export controls over nuclear weapons, the Iran nuclear deal, nonproliferation trade restrictions and more. The 48 member countries proposed updates to NSG export control lists and tapped a U.S. official to be a new group chair. Last year’s plenary was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a U.S. security equipment manufacturer $140,000 for illegally exporting stun guns, police batons, handcuffs and pepper spray to countries in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, BIS said in a June 23 order. The company, Florida-based Skyline USA, also violated Export Administration Regulations recordkeeping requirements for the exports, which were shipped to Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. The exports, sent during 2014 to 2016, were worth about $50,000.

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs began a review of a final Bureau of Industry and Security rule that would control certain types of deuterium under the Export Administration Regulations. The rule, received by OIRA June 16, will control deuterium that is intended for use “other than in a nuclear reactor or nuclear facility.” BIS mentioned the rule in its spring regulatory agenda, saying it is meant to transfer licensing jurisdiction over exports of certain deuterium from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to BIS (see 2106140034).

The Bureau of Industry and Security's decision to add five more Chinese companies to the Entity List (see 2106230004) is part of a “government-wide effort” under the Biden administration to take “strong action” against China’s human rights violations against Muslim minority groups, the Commerce Department said June 24. The move, which increased the total number of parties “implicated” by the U.S. in Xinjiang human rights abuses to 53, will restrict their ability to access commodities, software and technology subject to the Export Administration Regulations, Commerce said. “As we made clear during this month’s G7 summit, the United States is committed to employing all of its tools, including export controls, to ensure that global supply chains are free from the use of forced labor and technology is not misused to abuse human rights,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement. “The Commerce Department will continue to take firm, decisive action to hold China and other perpetrators of human rights abuses accountable.”

The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments on an information collection related to certain “rarely used” short supply activities, the agency said in a notice. The first activity allows U.S. agricultural exporters to register for exemptions from “short supply limitations on export,” and the second activity includes a petition to impose monitoring or controls on recyclable metallic materials. Under the EAR, BIS said U.S.-origin agricultural goods purchased “by or for use in a foreign country and stored” in the U.S. to be later exported may voluntarily be registered with BIS “for exemption from any quantitative limitations on export that may subsequently be imposed under the EAR for reasons of short supply.” BIS previously requested comments Jan. 15 and is extending the comment period for an additional 30 days. Comments are now due by July 26.

The Bureau of Industry and Security added five Chinese companies to the Entity List for their involvement in the government’s human rights abuses against Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang region, the agency said in a final rule. For each of the entities, BIS will impose a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The final rule takes effect June 24.

CBP’s Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee released a partial version of its Export Modernization White Paper, which is meant to serve as a “strategy and roadmap” for the future of the export process (see 2106180025). The paper, presented by the Secure Trade Lanes Subcommittee’s Export Modernization Work Group during a June 23 meeting, includes information on the responsibilities of parties in the export process, where data “actually” originates, who owns the data, how it should be used for export enforcement and more.