A new Commerce Department rule aimed at making it easier for certain U.S. technologies to be shared at standards-setting bodies will “undermine” U.S. efforts to protect those sensitive technologies from being acquired by China, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said. Although the rule, issued last week (see 2209080038), sought to allow the participation of U.S. companies in international standards bodies that have members on the Entity List, McCaul said it also undermines U.S. export restrictions. “Companies that are entity-listed are threats to national security, and we need real safeguards to ensure sensitive technology is not transferred to these bad actors,” said McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 13 updated a narcotics-related entity on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The agency updated information for Hassein Eduardo Figueroa Gomez, first sanctioned in 2012 (see 12041305) for ties to a Mexican drug cartel.
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After several years of delays, Commerce Department officials said industry may soon see progress on the agency’s long-awaited routed export rule. Although the rule is unlikely to be published this year, officials this week said they are hoping to prioritize the effort in the coming months, which could include major changes to the process around assigning filing responsibilities to forwarders and address information sharing among parties in routed export transactions (see 2006020049).
The State Department sent a final rule for interagency review that would amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule, sent for review Sept. 6, would make changes to “prohibited exports, imports, and sales to or from certain countries.”
Two senior Bureau of Industry and Security officials are in Singapore this week to discuss emerging technology export controls with their government counterparts in Asia and Europe and members of industry. BIS said Thea Kendler, the agency’s assistant secretary for export administration, and Matthew Axelrod, the agency’s top enforcement official, will discuss the multilateral response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and will speak about export control laws and regulations at several events organized alongside a range of trading partners. In addition, Kendler will speak at the inaugural Women in Strategic Trade Conference Sept. 14, which “provides an opportunity to collaborate internationally on increased opportunities for women in export controls.”
The U.S. and allies should impose Magnitsky-style sanctions against Chinese artificial intelligence surveillance company Hikvision for its role in human rights violations, said Dahlia Peterson, a research analyst at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology. Although the sanctions would “inflame” U.S.-China tensions, Peterson said they would help increase economic pressure on the company, which is already on the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
With the price cap on Russian oil products set to take effect in December, trade and commodity experts expressed concern during a Sept. 9 panel at Brookings Institution. In his announcement of the measures, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the aim of the price cap is to limit profits from Russian oil sales and cut into revenue generated for Russia but in a way that won't cut into the overall availability of oil products. The cap will work by targeting services supporting ocean shipping, such as insurance and brokers.
The Bureau of Industry and Security completed an interagency review for a final rule that would implement certain export control decisions agreed to at the multilateral Australia Group. The rule, sent for review last month (see 2208180018) and completed Sept. 9, would place controls on certain marine toxins, plant pathogens and biological equipment.
The Commerce Department is planning to expand export controls over certain semiconductor items destined to China (see 2208010011) next month, including those used for artificial intelligence and chipmaking tools, Reuters reported Sept. 11. Commerce already outlined some new restrictions in letters earlier this year to KLA, Lam Research and Applied Materials, Reuters said, which include new export licensing requirements on chipmaking equipment to Chinese factories capable of making chips more advanced than 14 nanometers. The new rules would also codify restrictions outlined by Commerce in letters to NVIDIA and AMD last month (see 2209010059), the report said.