The Commerce Department is accepting nominations for a relaunched industry advisory committee that will provide input on U.S. export control regulations.
The U.S. should push for export controlled semiconductors to be installed with a mechanism that would automatically bar those chips from being used in ways that violate U.S. export restrictions, researchers said in a new report this week. They said this would significantly aid export enforcement efforts and could potentially allow compliant chip companies to sell to a broader range of customers.
The Commerce Department’s export enforcement actions in 2023 resulted in the “highest number ever” of convictions, temporary denial orders and post-conviction denial orders, the Bureau of Industry and Security wrote in a year-end review. It also said it worked with foreign governments to complete over 1,500 end-use checks, “our most ever in a single year,” and added more than 465 parties from China, Iran, Russia and elsewhere to the Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security published a new set of frequently asked questions for its recently updated semiconductor export controls (see 2310170055), offering guidance on the agency’s new export notification requirement, its controls on U.S. persons activities, the scope of its end-use controls, direction for electronic export information filers and more. The FAQs also give input on several export scenarios that may require a license and preview at least one export control revision that BIS plans to make.
New Hampshire-headquartered NuDay was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine after it filed false export information, DOJ said Dec. 28. The agency said the five-year probation sentence for NuDay, founded as a nonprofit charity, was the “maximum penalty for an organizational defendant.”
The Commerce Department published its fall 2023 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security, including proposed rules involving its export controls for semiconductors and semiconductor equipment.
Seven Republican senators led by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced a bill this month aimed at countering the Commerce Department’s recent 90-day pause in issuing commercial firearms export licenses.
A U.S. appeals court this month upheld the conviction and 57-month prison sentence of Florida business owner Peter Sotis for conspiring to and illegally attempting to ship export-controlled rebreather diving equipment to Libya.
The Bureau of Industry and Security may be preparing to introduce new export rules for certain firearms, gun parts and ammunition, including one change that would require certain end-users to submit their passports to BIS and another that would shorten the validity period of certain licenses from four years to one year. Other changes could introduce new Export Control Classification Numbers for certain firearms and parts, require exporters to first obtain an import certificate from the importing country, and create a new working group to review firearms-related license applications.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on the impact of the Chemical Weapons Convention on commercial activities during 2023. The agency is specifically looking for feedback on how activities involving Schedule 1 chemicals were affected to determine whether CWC decisions "harmed" the “legitimate commercial activities and interests of chemical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical firms” this year. Comments are due by Jan. 19.