The Bureau of Industry and Security could streamline and strengthen its export license review process by improving its information sharing with other agencies involved in the process, especially the Defense, Energy and State departments, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.
The U.S. and law firm Husch Blackwell again swapped briefs June 13 in the firm’s Freedom of Information Act dispute. Husch Blackwell said the government, which provided a list of more than 100 disclosed and undisclosed documents related to the firm’s FOIA request regarding an Entity List listing when it filed for summary judgment (see 2505300055), still wasn’t making clear which documents were actually responsive to the request (Husch Blackwell v. Department of Commerce, D.D.C. # 1:24-02733).
An Israeli telecommunications and cybersecurity technology company told the Bureau of Industry and Security that it may have violated export controls against Russia and Belarus.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week officially released its enforcement order, charging letter and settlement agreement involving Unicat Catalyst Technologies, the Texas-based industrial equipment supplier that recently was assessed millions of dollars in combined penalties by BIS, DOJ and the Office of Foreign Assets Control for allegedly violating export control and sanctions laws (see 2506170047).
As the Bureau of Industry and Security asks for more funding from Congress to improve its enforcement and technological capabilities, the agency could benefit from more information about controlled exports leaving third countries, said Matt Borman, a former senior BIS official. He also stressed the importance of the U.S. carefully calibrating any new export controls, and said its current semiconductors restrictions have successfully slowed China from producing the most advanced chips.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said June 17 that he expects the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) partnership will demonstrate its worth in the Defense Department’s recently announced review of the security initiative.
A Bureau of Industry and Security move to adopt a 50% rule for parties on the Entity List would expand the list to cover thousands of new subsidiaries in nearly 100 jurisdictions, risk intelligence firm Kharon said this week. While Russia and China would account for most of the subsidiaries, Kharon said the list could cover hundreds more in the EU, the U.S., the U.K., Singapore, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, Australia and India. "Almost none" of those subsidiaries ever have appeared on a government-run restricted party list, it said.
A Texas-based industrial equipment supplier and its former CEO were fined millions of dollars for intentionally violating sanctions and export control laws, but the U.S. declined to prosecute its parent company after the firm voluntarily disclosed the violations and cooperated closely with DOJ’s investigation.
Taiwan added more than 600 companies to its list of those subject to stringent export license requirements, including major Chinese technology companies Huawei and SMIC.
Despite the Trump administration easing certain sanctions against Syria, companies should still be carrying out careful due diligence and should be aware of other legal risks they could face before doing any business in the country, industry advisers said this week.