Bureau of Industry and Security chief counsel Opher Shweiki left the federal government after over 25 years at DOJ and BIS, he said in a post on LinkedIn Feb. 14. He said he will start his “next adventure” next week. BIS didn’t immediately comment.
A New York freight forwarder agreed to complete export compliance training, but won’t face a fine, after admitting to the Bureau of Industry and Security that it illegally shipped enterprise servers and switches to Iran on behalf of an Iran-based exporter.
DOJ this week completed the forfeiture of a U.S.-origin Boeing 747 after a monthslong effort to seize the plane from Mahan Air, a sanctioned Iranian airline.
Exporters and industry groups warned the Bureau of Industry and Security this month about placing new eligibility restrictions on License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization (STA) for several technologies critical to their businesses, saying that could disrupt their supply chains and saddle the agency with an influx of license requests. At least one company urged BIS to launch what it said is a much-needed review of its space-related export controls, which could benefit from the license exception but that haven’t been overhauled since 2017.
A Missouri-based defense contractor illegally sent export-controlled military technology data overseas to produce items for his contracts with the Defense Department, DOJ announced last week.
U.S. enforcement officials last week continued to warn about upcoming export control penalties, saying they hope those cases encourage companies to devote more resources to their compliance programs.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments, due by April 9, on an information collection related to a request for appointment of a technical advisory committee. The collection describes the functions and responsibilities of the Commerce Department TACs, which "advise the government on proposed revisions to export control lists, licensing procedures, assessments of the foreign availability of controlled products, and export control regulations.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security has drafted and on Feb. 4 sent for interagency review an interim final rule to revise its export licensing requirements for certain firearms shipments. BIS in October announced a 90-day suspension of license applications for new gun exports (see 2310270068, 2310300043 and 2311200009). A draft document leaked in December purports to show some of the export control changes under consideration (see 2312260039).
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a proposed rule this week to amend the agency’s Defense Priorities and Allocations System regulation. Proposed changes include clarifying the “existing standards and procedures” by which BIS may provide special priorities assistance, providing “transparency and differentiation between other departments’ priorities” and the Commerce Department’s jurisdiction, and other technical edits. Public comments on the changes are due March 8.
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent an interim final rule for interagency review that would make “changes” to the Export Administration Regulations. The rule was sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Feb. 4. The agency didn’t say what those changes would be.