The Bureau of Industry and Security released a final rule Aug. 28 that will ease export controls on Syria by making the country eligible for more license exceptions and revising current BIS license review policies for Syria to “be more favorable.” The rule, effective Sept. 2, will also create a new License Exception Syria Peace and Prosperity, which will authorize exports and reexports to Syria of items designated under the Export Administration Regulations as EAR99.
A new law that will require the Bureau of Industry and Security to provide Congress with annual reports on certain export licensing information could lead to more "scrutiny" over BIS licensing activity, including through congressional hearings, Akin said in a client alert this week. The firm also said it could increase congressional requests to certain exporters or give rise to more legislation "regarding the scope of controls, parties to be added" to the Entity List or the Military End User List, or "requests for revocation of licenses."
The head of the House Select Committee on China urged the Trump administration Aug. 25 to adopt a new framework for restricting computing chip exports to China, saying placing certain technical limits on such sales would be a more effective way to keep Beijing’s AI capabilities in check.
The State Department is finalizing changes from a January rule that will add and remove items on the U.S. Munitions List and clarify the control scope of others. It said some new items should be subject to export controls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, while others “no longer warrant inclusion” or will soon be moved to the Commerce Department’s Commerce Control List. The agency will also create a new license exemption for underwater drones and tweak other portions of the January rule, but it declined to make multiple changes requested by exporters.
A U.S. business owner allegedly exported gun parts and accessories to Russia illegally by routing them through Kazakhstan and mislabeling the shipments to evade authorities, DOJ said last week. Maxim Larin, a Florida resident who owns multiple U.S.-based firearms supply companies, illegally worked with a person in Russia to evade export restrictions and ship items controlled under both the Export Administration Regulations and International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the agency said.
The U.S. should pass the Chip Security Act, a bill that would mandate location tracking for U.S. exports of certain advanced chips (see 2506250027), because it would allow American firms to boost exports of chips without “losing visibility or control over where those chips end up,” argued Kit Conklin, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick spoke with Bureau of Industry and Security employees during a town hall meeting Aug. 19, where he discussed their "vital work supporting Trump’s America First Trade Policy, which boosts U.S. industry, secures supply chains, and protects American tech from foreign exploitation," the agency said in a social media post. "BIS enforces export controls, closes loopholes, and keeps innovation domestic, driving thriving industries and national security."
ServisMed, a Florida-based distributor of disinfectant pesticides, was ordered to dissolve its business after trying to export unregistered pesticide products in violation of federal insecticide regulations, DOJ said. The company, which was investigated in part by the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Office of Export Enforcement, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.
Dual U.S. and Russian national Vadim Yermolenko was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and ordered to forfeit $75,547, for his role in a scheme to illegally export controlled dual-use and military items to Russia as part of a Moscow-led sanctions evasion scheme. He pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, commit bank fraud and defraud the U.S. (see 2411010047).
President Donald Trump signed into law Aug. 19 a bill that will require an annual report to Congress on certain dual-use license applications, the White House announced.