The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Texas semiconductor component manufacturer nearly $500,000 for illegally exporting controlled wafers to Russia via Bulgaria (see 2012210013), the agency said in a Sept. 28 order. The company, Silicon Space Technology Corporation, which began doing business as Vorago Technologies in 2015, worked with a Russian engineering firm to export “rad-hard 16MB Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) wafers,” which were controlled under the Export Administration Regulations for spacecraft and related components.
The Commerce and State departments will jointly oversee an “early alert system” to better manage potential semiconductor supply chain disruptions “linked to public health developments in key trading partners,” the White House said Sept. 23. The alert system, announced after the administration met with semiconductor industry representatives to discuss supply chain issues, will allow the government to better anticipate and detect supply chain issues and increase engagement with foreign governments and industry, the White House said.
The House-passed 2022 National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision that would mandate new sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. The amendment, proposed by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, would authorize sanctions against the project, “excluding the national security waiver,” to attempt to stop its completion. The Biden administration has issued some sanctions against the Russia-to-Germany pipeline project (see 2108230057) but has also said more U.S. sanctions wouldn’t stop the pipeline from being completed and would only cause tension with Germany (see 2107220008).
The Bureau of Industry and Security completed its review of a final rule that would control exports of certain types of deuterium under the Export Administration Regulations. The rule, received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs June 16 (see 2106240004) and completed Sept. 23, would control deuterium exports “intended for use other than in a nuclear reactor,” BIS said. The agency said the rule will transfer the responsibility for controlling those exports from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to BIS.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking information on the chip sector and the semiconductor supply chain, including sales statistics, production and inventory information, and bottleneck issues, the agency said in a notice. The comments will help the Commerce Department gather information on issues in the semiconductor industry, which was mandated in a February executive order (see 2102240068 and 2107280051).
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, recently offered several amendments to the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, including provisions relating to export control statistics, the Entity List and sanctions.
Two nominees to lead the Bureau of Industry and Security said they will prioritize stopping illegal technology exports to China and are willing to bypass multilateral controls on certain sensitive technologies if unilateral restrictions are warranted. But Alan Estevez, President Joe Biden’s nominee for BIS undersecretary, and Thea Kendler, the nominee for assistant secretary for export administration, also stressed that export control cooperation with allies is crucial and committed to working to convince trade partners to adopt more controls.
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent an interim final rule for interagency review that could affect certain information security export controls for cybersecurity items. The rule, received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Sept. 17, builds upon a proposed rule published by BIS in 2015 that was intended to gather feedback on new Wassenaar Arrangement controls on some cybersecurity items. At the time, BIS said public comments “revealed serious scope and implementation issues regarding these controls,” so the agency returned to Wassenaar to renegotiate the controls. The interim final rule, if approved and published, could outline the “progress” BIS made during the renegotiation and make changes to the Commerce Control List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments from the public on information related to the supply chains for critical sectors of the information and communications technology industrial base, the agency said in a notice. The comments will help the Commerce Department prepare a report on issues in the ICT supply chain, which was mandated by a February executive order (see 2102240068).
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued Sept. 17 guidance on export control information related to radiation hardened integrated circuits. The guidance includes a frequently asked question about whether certain integrated circuits are considered to be “rated as radiation hardened” under Export Control Classification Number 3A001.a.1 or meet or exceed the characteristics in ECCN 9A515.d or e. Another FAQ addresses how the classification of “standard fabrication process technologies” are impacted if they don’t meet certain required standards in the Export Administration Regulations. The final FAQ addresses whether the U.S. government, in developing plans to “prevent the release of controlled technology during the lifecycle of an acquisition,” can rely on “industry technology control plans for programs using onshore foundries for integrated circuit production.”