The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Dec. 13 advanced several bills that would revise U.S. export control regulations and procedures for dual-use technology.
The semiconductor industry is pushing the Biden administration for more transparency surrounding its future plans for export controls on chips and chip tools, saying the uncertainty is causing more foreign customers to avoid using advanced U.S.-origin technology. The industry also warned that China has seen a sharp uptick in domestic orders for chips and chipmaking equipment following the most recent U.S. controls, potentially jeopardizing sales to the American semiconductor industry’s largest market.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working more closely with the Office of Foreign Assets Control on enforcement issues, which could allow the two agencies to better align the BIS Entity List and OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List, a BIS official said this week.
The U.S. last week seized three websites with a top level domain name operated by people sanctioned by the Treasury Department, including those with ties to the Lebanese branch of Hezbollah, DOJ announced. The websites are registered to domain name registry provider Verisign and are ctexlb.com, imarwaiktissad.com and russia-now.com. DOJ said people who operate the sites are listed on Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals List and are listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
The Biden administration’s recent decision to remove China’s Institute of Forensic Science (IFS) from the Entity List has led the Chinese government to become more helpful, at least initially, in stemming the flow of illegal fentanyl drugs to the U.S., Bureau of Industry and Security officials said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security recently published an advisory opinion that offers guidance on its genetic elements export controls under Export Control Classification Number 1C353.
Congress should require the Biden administration to strengthen export controls against China and give it new tools to restrict a broader range of inbound and outbound investments, the House Select Committee on China said in a Dec. 12 report.
Exporters will have at least another month to digest the Bureau of Industry and Security's recently updated semiconductor export controls before the agency issues clarifications and corrections.
New guidance from the Biden administration this week warned shippers, forwarders, brokers, ship owners and others involved in maritime and other transportation industries to better know their cargo, saying they each have a “responsibility” to craft their own “rigorous” compliance programs. The 10-page sanctions advisory specifically calls out freight forwarders, saying they play a “key role” in compliant supply chains.
Four House Democrats introduced a bill aimed at curbing the flow of U.S. firearms to drug cartels, gangs and other violent groups in the Caribbean and Latin America.