The Bureau of Industry and Security should “significantly” strengthen export controls against Huawei to further restrict the Chinese technology company from buying U.S.-origin items, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in a March 6 letter to the agency. Although McCaul applauded its use of the Entity List and the foreign direct product rule to “curtail Huawei’s unconstrained march to dominate 5G telecommunications systems globally,” he said more should be done.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on an information collection relating to technology letters of explanation. The letters provide the agency with a description of a technology in a license application, allowing BIS technical staff to "evaluate the impact of licensing the export on United States national security and foreign policy." It also requires the “consignee” to certify that an export involving controlled technical data will not be released to blocked people or entities. Comments are due May 8.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week suspended the export privileges of four people for illegally exporting weapons, ammunition and other items to Mexico and Iran.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on an information collection involving voluntary self-disclosures of antiboycott violations. Comments are due May 8.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is preparing a mandatory survey for hundreds of U.S. space companies, suppliers and researchers to collect data on supply chains used by the U.S. space industrial base, the agency said this week. The effort -- which is a partnership among BIS, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- will help the agencies “identify the structure and interdependencies” of the space industrial base, especially those that work with NASA or NOAA.
Shipments of export-controlled technologies from the U.S. and its allies to Russia have dropped nearly 50% by value since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, said Thea Kendler, the Bureau of Industry and Security’s assistant secretary for export administration. Kendler, speaking during a conference last week hosted by the Association of Women in International Trade, touted the impact of export restrictions imposed by Japan, the U.K., South Korea and other nations she said are part of the Global Export Control Coalition (GECC), adding that the controls have led to the “severe deterioration” of Russia’s ability to sustain its military.
The Bureau of Industry and Security approved $23 billion worth of prospective exports involving Chinese companies on the Entity List from January through March 2022, representing about 79% of all license applications it received for those companies during that time period. The data, recently released by House Foreign Relations Committee Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas, shows an “unacceptable” amount of approvals, the lawmaker said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will increase the number of penalties it issues against corporations for export violations this year, an effort it hopes will lead to improved industry compliance, the top export BIS enforcement official said last week. DOJ also will concentrate more resources on targeting export violators, a top agency official said, and plans to significantly expand its Export Control Section.
Western democracies should pursue new restrictions on technology researchers or risk further falling behind China in global technological competition, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said in a report that it released this week. The institute warned that China’s dominant research position could allow that country to “gain a stranglehold on the global supply of certain critical technologies.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week added 37 entities to the Entity List for a range of activities the agency said threaten U.S. national security, including for supporting Russia’s war effort, sending controlled items to China’s military and aiding companies already listed on the Entity List. The entities -- located in Belarus, Myanmar, China, Pakistan, Russia and Taiwan -- will be subject to a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations with varying license application review policies. BIS also modified 10 existing Chinese entries on the Entity List. The additions and changes took effect March 2.