The Bureau of Industry and Security on Feb. 4 posted a new video providing guidance on applying for a license to export biological items. The roughly 10-minute video illustrates how to determine license requirements, use licensing exceptions and apply for licenses for biological items subject to the Export Administration Regulations.
Industry should expect the Biden administration’s review of Trump-era China policies -- including export controls and licensing decisions -- to take two to three months, trade lawyer Peter Lichtenbaum said. He also said the Bureau of Industry and Security will continue to adhere to the Trump administration's strict Huawei licensing policy until it’s changed by incoming political appointees, which has not yet happened.
Commerce secretary nominee Gina Raimondo was asked several times in written questions from senators after her hearing about how she would balance the need to prevent cutting edge technologies from being shared with adversaries but also allow U.S. semiconductor manufacturers to compete with foreign companies that don't have the same restrictions on selling chips.
Mediterranean Shipping Company will pay over $80,000 to settle allegations that it violated anti-boycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations, according to documents recently posted to the Bureau of Industry and Security website. The steamship line’s Chicago office allegedly agreed to requests to add Israel boycott clauses to shipping documentation, and failed to report those requests as required by the EAR, BIS said in charging documents.
The Bureau of Industry and Security, in the Census Bureau’s January trade newsletter, addressed several frequently asked questions about filing requirements for exports to China, Russia and Venezuela. The agency detailed how electronic export information (EEI) filing requirements apply to exports and which license exceptions are available. It also provided contact information for exporter questions. Filing requirements apply to more exports than just those captured under the agency’s April rule on exports to military end-users and for end-uses (see 2004270027), BIS said. There won’t be a new “license-type code” for EEI filings in the Automated Export System for exports controlled for anti-terrorism reasons, BIS said.
Princeton University was fined $54,000 and ordered to audit its export control compliance program after committing 37 U.S. export violations, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a Feb. 1 order. BIS said the university illegally exported “various strains and recombinants” of an animal pathogen, which were controlled for chemical and biological weapons reasons, to overseas research institutions without the required BIS licenses.
A Bureau of Industry and Security spokesperson dismissed criticism from national security experts that technology is moving too fast for BIS export controls (see 2101290021) and said the agency is committed to continuing its congressionally mandated emerging technology efforts. “That technology is developing quickly does not negate the imperative of appropriate export controls to prevent access by actors who would use those technologies contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” the spokesperson said in a Jan. 29 email. Although BIS has issued 38 emerging technology controls, the House’s Republican-led China Task Force last year criticized BIS for being too slow to roll out a substantial list of emerging and foundational technologies (see 2010010020). The spokesperson said BIS is still reviewing the roughly 80 comments it received on its pre-rule for foundational technologies (see 2008260045 and 2011130037).
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week published an updated version of its senior management team. BIS now lists Jeremy Pelter as acting undersecretary; G. Nagesh Rao as acting chief information officer; and Opher Shweiki as acting chief counsel.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Singapore-based electronics and software distributor more than $3 million and suspended its export privileges for violating the Export Administration Regulations, which included illegal exports to China and Iran, according to a Jan. 29 order. BIS said Avnet Asia Pte., Ltd. committed 53 EAR violations over several years when it sold export-controlled electronic components totaling more than $1 million. The Justice Department also charged Chinese national Cheng Bo, a former Avnet Asia employee, for participating in a conspiracy to violate U.S. export laws.
More foreign investors are opting to submit a filing with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. out of an abundance of caution, even when there is no mandatory filing requirement, George Grammas, a trade lawyer with Squire Patton, said. Grammas said “sophisticated” investors are especially likely to file before the investment is complete, particularly as CFIUS continues a trend of reviewing years-old investments.