The Bureau of Industry and Security approved more than a combined $100 billion worth of export licenses for shipments to Huawei and Chinese top chipmaker SMIC from November 9, 2020, through April 20, 2021, according to documents released Oct. 21 by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. BIS said it approved 113 licenses for Huawei -- about 70% of the total license applications it received -- for more than $61 billion worth of goods during that time period. The agency also approved 188 licenses for SMIC -- about 90% of the total it received -- for more than $41 billion worth of exports.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is proposing to clarify and expand restrictions on using License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization (see 2109130013), which it hopes will reduce exporter “confusion” and better control certain sensitive technologies, BIS said Oct. 21.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will issue new export controls on certain cybersecurity items and create a new license exception for those exports, BIS said in an interim final rule released Oct. 20. The rule, which will align U.S. cybersecurity restrictions with controls previously agreed to at the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement, will establish more restrictions on certain items that can be used for “malicious cyber activities” by imposing a license requirement for shipments to certain countries, BIS said. The changes take effect Jan. 19, and BIS will accept public comments until Dec. 6.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will issue new export controls on certain cybersecurity items and create a new license exception for those exports, according to an interim final rule. The rule will establish more restrictions on items that can be used for “malicious cyber activities” by imposing a license requirement for shipments to certain countries, BIS said. The changes, which take effect Jan. 19, will align U.S. cybersecurity restrictions with controls previously agreed to at the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement. BIS is also seeking public comments on the changes by Dec. 6.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on an information collection relating to transfers of export licenses, it said. Export licenses can be transferred under “certain circumstances,” the agency said, such as company mergers or takeovers that “necessitate the transfer of an active export license from one party to another.” Comments are due Dec. 20.
Weak U.S. export controls and licensing policies may have contributed to China's reported development of nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said Oct. 18. McCaul said he warned the Commerce Department to place stricter controls on China’s Phytium Technologies -- a company “contributing” to the country’s hypersonic weapons program -- by applying the foreign direct product rule (see 2104150040).
The Bureau of Industry and Security completed interagency review of an interim final rule that could make changes to the Commerce Control List for certain cybersecurity items. The rule, received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in September (see 2109200005) and completed Oct. 14, would build upon a proposed rule published by BIS in 2015 that was intended to gather feedback on new Wassenaar Arrangement controls on some cybersecurity items.
RANCHO MIRAGE, California -- The Commerce Department and CBP will soon deploy a new feature in the Automated Export System to automatically warn filers if they are exporting a controlled item without a license, a BIS official said. The agencies hope to launch the feature -- which should help exporters, freight forwarders and carriers better conduct due diligence -- in the next few months, said Richard Sylvestri, a senior export administration analyst in the Bureau of Industry and Security's Western Regional Office.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will hold a virtual forum Oct. 29 to gather recommendations to “strengthen the resiliency of critical supply chains supporting the U.S. information and communications technology (ICT) industrial base that are at risk of disruption, strain, compromise, or elimination,” the agency said. The meeting is part of the effort launched by the February 2021 executive order on ICT supply chains. Requests to attend are due by 5 p.m. EDT on Oct. 27.
A multinational semiconductor company may have violated U.S. export controls when it transacted with two Chinese technology companies on the Entity List, according to its October Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Arteris, which is headquartered in California, said it maintained a business “relationship” with HiSilicon Technologies Co. and Chongxin Bada Technology Development Co., Ltd., which may have resulted in “inadvertent” violations of the Export Administration Regulations. The Bureau of Industry and Security added HiSilicon to the Entity List in 2019 as an affiliate of Huawei (see 1905160072) and added Bada in 2020 (see 2008260038).