The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 24 companies to the Entity List for participating in a range of illegal exports, including efforts to aid Russia’s military, supply export-controlled items to Iran or support Pakistan’s nuclear activities, the agency said in a final rule released Dec. 7. The additions include entities located in Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. BIS also removed one company from the Entity List.
China has been more receptive to U.S. end-use checks on Chinese entities as a result of a Commerce Department policy change from October, Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said this week. Estevez also said he doesn’t expect any significant revisions to BIS’s most recent chip restrictions on China, and warned that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would spark new, strict U.S. export controls that would cause U.S. companies to lose “billions” of dollars in Chinese business.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add 24 companies to the Entity List for aiding Russia’s military, supplying export-controlled items to Iran or for supporting Pakistan’s nuclear activities. The additions include entities located in Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. BIS also removed one company from the Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security extended the comment period for its recently announced chip export controls against China, saying it wanted to give more time for commenters to review the October rule and submit their feedback. Comments were originally due Dec. 12 (see 2210070049) but will now be due Jan. 31, BIS said in a notice released Dec. 5. The new controls, designed to restrict China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors, have posed challenges for some in the semiconductor industry and sparked calls for additional guidance (see 2211010042 and 2211150044).
The Bureau of Industry and Security recently revoked export privileges for seven people after they illegally exported or tried to export controlled items from the U.S., including to Mexico and Russia.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on priorities for export control cooperation with Japan, the agency said this week. BIS said the comments will help inform work under the Japan-U.S. Commercial and Industrial Partnership's Export Control Working Group, including efforts to ensure the two countries’ dual-use controls are “more transparent, more efficient and effective, and more convergent.” BIS said comments also will help the group identify and control emerging and foundational technologies and better enable collaboration between U.S. and Japanese research organizations.
The EU last week released the draft agenda for its annual export control forum. The forum, scheduled for Dec. 6, will feature speakers from the Bureau of Industry and Security and panels on emerging technologies, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, multilateral restrictions and more.
Semiconductor companies are still awaiting licensing decisions on their chip-related activities involving China under the U.S.’s new export controls, with some concerned that licenses awarded to their competitors could hurt their revenue. In earnings calls and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission this month, U.S. chip and technology companies said they continue to prepare for drops in sales to China and that they fear Chinese customers may soon replace them with alternative suppliers, causing some U.S. companies to permanently lose their market share in China.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on an information collection involving the procedure for entities on the Unverified List or Entity List to request removal or “modification” of their placement on either list. Public comments on the collection are due Jan. 24.
The U.S. needs to provide universities with clearer guidance on what types of research activities they can conduct and share with China, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in a report this week. The report, authored by MIT’s China Strategy Group, said U.S. schools face challenges managing outside “pressures” while also “preserving open scientific research,” which risks damaging American research abilities and chilling technology collaboration.