An Office of Foreign Assets Control official said the agency within the Treasury is trying to “expedite” responses on license applications but does not have the resources to lift certain compliance burdens that have caused headaches for U.S. companies, such as regulations that require businesses to determine which companies are owned 50 percent or more by a sanctioned party. “That’s something were trying to work on,” said Susan Demske, OFAC’s assistant director for regulatory affairs.
The Commerce Department is reviewing export license applications to sell to Huawei in order to “mitigate as much of the negative impacts of the entity listing as possible” and hopes to have decisions “soon,” said Nazak Nikakhtar, Commerce undersecretary for the industry and security.
Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security banned export privileges for a man who was convicted of illegally exporting gas turbine parts in 2018, Commerce said in a June 28 order. Commerce said the man, Olaf Tepper, violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after he exported parts to Germany that were intended for an end-user in Iran. Tepper did not have the proper export license from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Tepper was sentenced to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine in addition to the export ban, which included revoking all of Tepper’s BIS-related licenses. The ban will last 10 years after his conviction date of Aug. 3, 2018, Commerce said.
More than 25 industry associations are asking the Commerce Department to allow more time for public comments on Commerce’s next advance notice of proposed rulemaking for foundational technologies, which is expected in the coming weeks. The associations asked for a 90-day comment and review period in a June 27 letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security is looking to make more use of the enforcement authorities it was granted under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, including more undercover operations, wiretapping and investigations, said Adrienne Frazier, a lawyer for BIS. Speaking on a panel during the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference in Washington on June 27, Frazier said BIS previously had the ability to conduct investigations in coordination with federal law enforcement. But ECRA gave BIS more individual authorities and investigative abilities, she said. “I think that those are going to be things the agency looks to do more of. It’s something that I think the agency is keen to do.”
A California man was recently arrested for illegally exporting cesium atomic clocks to Hong Kong without obtaining the required Bureau of Industry and Security License, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a June 27 press release. Alex Yun Cheong Yue allegedly bought the clock from a U.S. reseller by misrepresenting its end-use, and was attempting to buy another clock when the reseller requested to tour Yue’s non-existent California facility to verify the end-use, causing Yue to abort his plans to export a second clock.
There is significant tension and disagreement between the Defense and Commerce departments about the reach of U.S. export controls, said Jamie McCormick, a staffer for House Appropriations Committee Republicans, June 27 at the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference in Washington. McCormick said the confusion surrounding foundational technologies among U.S. industry leaders may stem from the original passage of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, adding that he believes the executive branch does not agree on a definition for foundational technologies. “I’m not certain that at the time they passed the bill that the executive branch could say with any certainty what they meant by foundational technologies,” McCormick said.
Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security corrected one entry and removed eight others from the Unverified List after verifying and conducting an end-use check, BIS said in a notice. The correction changes the name of Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Technology to Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, BIS said. The eight removals from the list, all China-based, are: Beijing Bayi Space LCD Materials Technology Co., Hubei Flying Optical, Sunder Tools (Changxing) Technology, Wuhan Yifi Laser Equipment Co., Wuxi Hengling Technology Co., Xiamen Sanan Optoelectronics, Zhejiang Xizi Aviation and Zolix Instruments Co. The changes are scheduled to take effect June 27.
An internal “review” at Micron Technology found the memory chip supplier could “lawfully resume shipping a subset of current products” to Huawei because they aren't subject to Commerce Department export administration regulations and entity list restrictions, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said on a fiscal Q3 call. Micron reinstated those shipments about two weeks ago, he said on June 25. Micron suspended all Huawei shipments immediately after release of the May 16 notice from Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security placing the Chinese telecom gear giant and 68 of its non-U.S. affiliates on the Entity List (see 1905240044), Mehrotra said. Micron did so to “ensure compliance” with the restrictions and begin its review, he said.
FedEx filed a lawsuit against the Commerce Department and the Bureau of Industry and Security for imposing export controls it says are “unconstitutional” and “impossible” to comply with, according to court records. The company also said BIS’s Entity List “imposes an overbroad, disproportionate burden on FedEx,” records show. The suit asks the court to stop Commerce from enforcing certain sections of the Export Administration Regulations on FedEx, to declare the EAR “unlawful” and to award FedEx any additional appropriate relief, including “costs and expenses.”