The Bureau of Industry and Security this week issued a correction to its April interim final rule that reduced license requirements for exports to Australia and the U.K. as part of the Australia-U.K.-U.S. partnership (see 2404180035). The correction fixes a footnote in the rule to add “greater specificity” for the Export Control Classification Numbers mentioned “so only portions of those 0x5zz ECCNs” that were previously controlled for national security or regional stability reasons for the destinations of Australia and the U.K. “will continue to require a license to Australia and the United Kingdom based on the license requirements specified in this footnote.” The changes took effect May 6.
Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., announced separate legislative proposals last week that would block the Bureau of Industry and Security’s new interim final rule restricting firearms exports.
Companies should expect the U.S. to soon expand the statute of limitations for certain export control violations to align with a similar extension for sanctions violations, a law firm said.
The Census Bureau recently updated the Automated Export System to revise the types of exports to Australia and the U.K. that can be filed with License Code C33 (No License Required). The update reflects export control changes made last month by the Bureau of Industry and Security, which reduced certain licensing requirements for shipments to Australia and the U.K. as part of the AUKUS partnership (see 2404180035).
Aggressive new U.S. export controls on advanced computing chips and the equipment to manufacture them are having unintended side effects and may be causing more harm than good for Western companies, a Brussels-based think-tank said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is developing a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) to explain its new license exception authorizing certain exports of medical devices to Russia, it was revealed at an April 30 meeting of the agency’s Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC).
The U.S. should rethink its export control enforcement efforts by creating an ecosystem of preapproved, trusted sellers and logistics providers instead of blacklists of bad actors, a researcher with the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report this month. The report said some of those companies would be required to earn an export compliance certification, use digital waybills to reduce chances of documentation fraud and help trace sensitive exports, and submit monthly reports to the Bureau of Industry and Security about suspicious consignments.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., urged the Commerce Department last week to immediately revoke all export licenses to China’s Huawei, saying the Bureau of Industry and Security is allowing a foreign adversary's company to obtain too much advanced U.S. technology.
The U.S., Japan and South Korea have formally launched the Disruptive Technology Protection Network to share information and best practices on keeping sensitive technology out of the hands of adversaries, the Bureau of Industry and Security announced April 26. The kickoff occurred during an April 25 trilateral summit in Washington, D.C. The network, which the countries' leaders last year agreed to form, is based on the Disruptive Technology Strike Force that BIS launched with DOJ in February 2023 to pool resources for investigating export control violations (see 2302160019).
The Commerce Department should start preparing export controls for dual-use artificial intelligence models, which could prevent those models from being used to make biosecurity weapons or skirt U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductors, researchers told the agency in comments released this month. But technology companies and industry groups warned the U.S. against overbroad controls, which they said could hurt American AI innovation.