If not properly tailored, export controls on brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies could stifle U.S. competitiveness and slow academic research, tech companies and universities told the Bureau of Industry and Security in comments released this month. While some commenters said certain narrow, multilateral controls may be feasible, others said BIS should avoid controls altogether to avoid impeding U.S. innovation.
The State Department is adjusting its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice released Jan. 7. The new amounts, which include higher maximum penalties for violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Arms Export Control Act, will apply only to penalties assessed on or after Jan. 10, the agency said.
The Census Bureau will make several changes to the Automated Export System to accommodate the Commerce Department’s new Authorized Cybersecurity Exports (ACE) license exception, Census said in a Jan. 7 email. Among the changes, the agency will add new Export Control Classification Numbers 4A005 and 4D004 and will create new License Code C64 for the ACE exception.
In their first official statements at the Bureau of Industry and Security, the agency’s two newest export control officials singled out China and Russia and said they plan to prioritize enforcement work involving human rights.
China is likely to increase its use of economic and trade restrictions, specifically export controls, to penalize U.S. and EU companies that act against its interests, two security and economics experts said. While China hasn’t “extensively” used its newly established export control or sanctions regimes, its recently issued export control white paper and other rhetoric suggest it won't hesitate to soon use those powers more broadly, the experts said.
The U.N. Security Council on Jan. 4 removed five entries from its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida Sanctions. The removals are: Mevlut Kar, Denis Mamadou Gerhard Cuspert, Nayef Salam Muhammad Ujaym Al-Hababi, Turki Mubarak Abdullah Al-Binali and Tuah Febriwansyah.
The SEC should ban sanctioned Chinese companies from being included in indices, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other index funds in U.S. capital markets, the Coalition for a Prosperous America said. The nonprofit group said index providers fail to “consider material risks posed by U.S. national security threats” when they evaluate companies, including whether they are listed under a U.S. sanctions regime or designated on the Commerce Department’s Entity List. “These gaps in oversight and due diligence are afflicting index funds held by scores of millions of unwitting American retail investors -- often through their pension funds -- and elevating the material risks in a manner inconsistent with their proper fiduciary duty," CPA wrote to the SEC in a letter released Jan. 5.
The U.K. added one individual and one entity to its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime, in a Jan. 4 financial sanctions notice. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation placed ISIL senior member Ashraf Al-Qizani and Jund Al-Khilafah, ISIL's wing in Tunisia established in November 2014, on the sanctions list. The two new listings will be subject to an asset freeze and a travel ban. In the same notice, OFSI also delisted the following from the ISIL sanctions regime: Mevlut Kar, Denis Mamadou Gerhard Cuspert, Nayef Salam Muhammad Ujaym Al-Hababi, Turki Mubarak Abdullah Ahmad Al-Binali and Tuah Febriwansyah.
Thea Kendler, President Joe Biden’s choice to be the Bureau of Industry and Security's assistant secretary for export administration, was officially sworn in to her position, BIS said this week. The agency said Kendler will lead Export Administration’s “highly trained technical professionals” in controlling dual-use and military exports, analyzing the impact of those export controls and supporting the U.S. defense industrial base. She also will chair the Advisory Committee on Export Policy, which resolves interagency policy disputes on export license applications submitted to BIS. The Senate confirmed Kendler in December (see 2112150009).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 5 sanctioned Milorad Dodik, a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and an entity he controls, Alternativna Televizija d.o.o. Banja Luka (ATV), for “destabilizing” activity and corruption. The agency said Dodik uses the ATV a media outlet to “advance his own personal and political goals” and has “funneled money directly from public companies to ATV for corrupt purposes.” OFAC said the designation is the first issued under President Joe Biden’s June executive order that expanded the U.S.’s sanctions authority for people and entities in the Western Balkans (see 2106090030).