The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a proposed rule this week that would require U.S. industry to shift from manual to electronic reporting for certain civil nuclear fuel cycle-related activities. The rule, released Dec. 28, would specifically amend BIS’s Additional Protocol (AP) regulations -- an agreement between the U.S. and the International Atomic Energy Agency -- by replacing the existing manual reporting and processing procedures with a requirement to submit reports online through the Additional Protocol Reporting System (APRS).
Rockley Photonics, a California photonics-based health monitoring and communications solutions company, won’t follow through with a sale to Hengtong, a Chinese power and fiber optic cable manufacturer, following Hengtong's addition to the U.S. Entity List this month. Rockley suggested the sale, which it described as a “data-communications-related technical sale,” could be subject to the Export Administration Regulations and require a Bureau of Industry and Security license.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week released Spanish-language versions of two export compliance documents to make its materials “more accessible” to those whose primary language is Spanish. The documents are BIS’s Elementos de un ECP (Elements of an Export Compliance Program) and Directrices de Cumplimiento Para Las Exportaciones (Export Compliance Guidelines). The agency said Spanish is the second-most-frequently spoken language in the U.S. And even though a “disproportionately small number” of minority-owned businesses are exporters, “those that do export benefit more from exporting, as a percentage of receipts, when compared to nonminority-owned exporting firms,” BIS said. The agency said it hopes the translated guidance helps to “grow participation and diversity in the export economy by providing resources to help encourage more minority business enterprises to export their products.”
The Commerce Department published its fall 2021 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security, including a new mention of an export control rule for crime-control items and a rule that would reorganize provisions of the foreign direct product rule in federal regulations.
Zoom Video Communications recently disclosed potential export control violations to the U.S. government, according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Zoom said it submitted a voluntary self-disclosure to the Bureau of Industry and Security in June “regarding compliance with certain U.S. export control laws and regulations.” The company said it may be subject to fines or other penalties. Although it didn’t provide specific details, Zoom said it may have “inadvertently” allowed its platform and products to be used by customers in ways that violate U.S. sanctions laws. It also said it may have allowed its software products to be used by end-users in embargoed or sanctioned countries, which could have violated the Export Administration Regulations. “While we are working to implement additional controls designed to prevent similar activity from occurring in the future, these controls may not be fully effective,” Zoom said in the November filing.
Matthew Axelrod, President Joe Biden’s nominee to oversee export enforcement work at the Bureau of Industry and Security, was confirmed by the Senate Dec. 18. Axelrod will become the first Senate-confirmed assistant secretary for export enforcement in more than five years. He recently told Congress he wants to raise the profile of U.S. export enforcement through more deterrence efforts and large penalties (see 2110080045).
Jorge Orencel, owner and operator of Maryland-based export business Sumtech, pleaded guilty on Dec. 17 to attempting to smuggle goods out of the U.S. without the required export license, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland said. Sumtech, under Orencel's leadership. specialized in distributing "high technology laboratory devices," across the globe, but in particular to South America, Asia and the Middle East. Orencel was busted for shipping ionization chambers to Hong Kong, while telling the company he bought the chambers from that he intended to ship the goods to Argentina. Orencel also intentionally undervalued the chambers themselves, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The Commerce Department should immediately expand an exemption to allow U.S. companies to participate in standards-setting bodies that have members designated on the Entity List, industry representatives said. U.S. firms said they have been forced to avoid the bodies because they fear running afoul of U.S. export laws, a practice that could result in the U.S. losing important influence over the future of emerging technology standards.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added eight Chinese technology firms to its investment blacklist, including drone maker DJI, for helping the Chinese government track and detain Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. The move, announced Dec. 16, also banned investments in Cloudwalk Technology Co., Dawning Information Industry Co., Leon Technology Company, Megvii Technology, Netposa Technologies, Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co. and Yitu, all of which are already on the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added 37 entities to the Entity List, including 34 Chinese research institutes and technology companies, for supporting China’s military modernization efforts or Iran’s weapons program. Other entities added to the list, located in Georgia, Malaysia and Turkey, supplied U.S.-origin items to Iranian defense industries, BIS said.