The Bureau of Industry and Security is hoping to expand the number of officers it sends overseas and increase collaboration with other investigative agencies, partly to help with a larger workload and a rise in new export control evasion trends. Agents said BIS has seen a steady increase in work since the enactment of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, which has been made more complex by the rise in cryptocurrency schemes, increasingly sophisticated uses of front companies and ransomware attacks.
Switzerland designated seven individuals and three entities as part of its Nicaragua sanctions regime, following the EU, which listed the same parties Jan. 10. The listed individuals are Camila Antonia Ortega Murillo and Laureano Facundo Ortega Murillo, advisers to the president; Brenda Isabel Rocha Chacon, Supreme Electoral Council (SEC) president; Cairo Melvin Amador Arrieta, SEC vice president; Lumberto Ignacio Campbell Hooker, SEC member; Nahima Janett Diaz Flores, director of the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Post Services (TELCOR); and Luis Angel Montenegro Espinoza, superintendent of the Superintendency of Banks and other Financial Institutions of Nicaragua.
The U.S. should build a “consortium” of like-minded countries to collaborate more closely on semiconductor export controls to counter China and its coercion of Taiwan, the Center for a New American Security said in a Jan. 27 report. The consortium would also coordinate other “punitive actions,” such as investment screening, to counter “Chinese economic and political aggression.”
Saber Fakih of the United Kingdom pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to illegally exporting and attempting to export an industrial microwave system (IMS) and counter-drone system to Iran, the Department of Justice said. Fakih also admitted conspiring with Bader Fakih of Canada; Altaf Faquih from the United Arab Emirates; and Alireza Taghavi of Iran. Fakih's actions violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulation, DOJ said Jan. 27.
In her first public remarks since joining the Bureau of Industry and Security, Thea Kendler said BIS has been constantly looking for new emerging technologies that should be subject to controls and is close to publishing its first foundational technology rule. Kendler, who was confirmed last month as assistant secretary for export administration, also said she plans to prioritize multilateral export controls that protect American technology from China’s military and wants to work closely with industry so those controls don’t harm U.S. competitiveness.
Seven countries aligned themselves with the European Union's December decision to renew the existing restrictive measures on individuals and entities that have committed serious human rights violations, the European Council said Jan. 26. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Ukraine will implement in their national policies the EU's decision to extend the human rights sanctions regime for another 12 months, until Dec. 8, 2022.
The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology is extending the comment period for a study on investment, supply chain and marketplace trends in eight emerging technology areas, the agency said in a notice. NIST is specifically seeking feedback to help guide the development of artificial intelligence, the internet of things in manufacturing, quantum computing, blockchain technology, new and advanced materials, unmanned delivery services, IOT and 3D printing. The comments, originally due Jan. 31 but now due Feb. 15, will help inform a NIST report to Congress on those emerging technologies. The Bureau of Industry and Security is studying each of these areas for potential export controls as part of its emerging and foundational technology effort under the Export Control Reform Act (see 2110280040).
Out of all the government’s export control regulations, two aerospace industry officials said they are spending the most time trying to comply with the Bureau of Industry and Security’s military end-user and end-use rule.
After a thermal imaging industry official this week said the Commerce Department hasn’t significantly updated its export controls surrounding infrared technologies since 2005 (see 2201260047), an agency spokesperson pointed to two recent regulatory actions that they said have updated controls.
As the U.S. and the European Union both prepare their own set of Russian sanctions and export controls, a senior U.S. official said the measures may not be identical but will align very closely to avoid hurting the competitiveness of U.S. firms. Peter Harrell, a National Security Council official, also said the trade restrictions won’t amount to an embargo against “everyday” Russian consumers, and will likely include exemptions and a wind-down period.