The Bureau of Industry and Security extended a comment period on an information collection involving evaluations of its export compliance training seminars. BIS said it usually conducts more than 30 export compliance seminars per year, and said feedback on the seminars is “vital to ensuring the quality and relevance of outreach programs.” BIS previously requested public input in June, and now will allow another 30 days for submission of comments.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week announced new export controls on four technologies that can be used to produce advanced semiconductors and gas turbine engines. The controls, which were agreed to by members of the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement at last year’s plenary, will apply to two substrates of ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors, certain Electronic Computer Aided Design (ECAD) software and certain pressure gain combustion (PGC) technology.
Even though U.S. export controls haven’t cut into SMIC’s profit margins, they have hurt the Chinese semiconductor company’s ability to advance its chip-producing technology, said Min-Hua Chiang, a Heritage Foundation research fellow. Because restrictions imposed by the Bureau of Industry and Security limit SMIC’s ability to import equipment for making chips below 10 nanometers, the company is “stuck with using older technology,” she wrote in an August post. “Without access to foreign equipment,” the post said, “it will be very difficult for China to produce the most advanced chips any time soon, putting a severe crimp in Beijing’s plans for its military and security apparatus.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security on Aug. 4 sent a final rule for interagency review that would implement certain export control decisions made during the 2021 Wassenaar Arrangement cycle. The rule will revise the Commerce Control List and corresponding parts of the Export Administration Regulations, including License Exception Adjusted Peak Performance, BIS said. The agency recently completed review of a separate rule involving new export control decisions for emerging technologies agreed to at the 2021 Wassenaar plenary (see 2208030007).
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week charged a Chinese company with violating U.S. export controls when it helped Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation sell controlled items to Iran. The company, Far East Cable, served as a “cutout” between ZTE and several Iranian telecommunications companies, BIS said, helping ZTE “conceal and obfuscate” its business dealings in Iran from U.S. investigators. In total, BIS said Far East Cable committed 18 violations of the Export Administration Regulations.
The Bureau of Industry and Security completed an interagency review of an interim final rule involving new export control decisions for emerging technologies agreed to at the 2021 Wassenaar Arrangement plenary. The rule, which was first sent for interagency review March 8 (see 2203090009), was completed Aug. 2. It will harmonize the Commerce Control List with a portion of Wassenaar’s 2021 decisions for certain “recently developed or developing technologies,” BIS said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week suspended the export privileges of a Venezuela-based cargo airline for violating U.S. export controls. The agency said Empresa de Transporte Aereocargo del Sur, also known as Aerocargo del Sur Transportation or EMTRASUR, acquired “custody” of a U.S.-origin Boeing aircraft from Mahan Air -- a sanctioned Iranian airline (see 2205160035) -- and illegally flew that plane between Venezuela, Iran and Russia.
A bipartisan group of senators last week urged the Commerce Department to add China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Company to the Entity List, Reuters reported Aug. 1. In a July 28 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the senators, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said YMTC is an “immediate threat” to the U.S. and should be subject to strict export licensing requirements. “By failing to add YMTC to the Entity List, the U.S. Department of Commerce is allowing the PRC to exploit our technological sector and supply sanctioned parties in China,” the letter said, according to the report. A Commerce spokesperson said the agency received the letter and will respond. Spokespeople for the lawmakers didn’t immediately comment. The letter came a little more than a week after members of the Senate Banking Committee urged Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez to add YMTC to the Entity List (see 2207150023).
The Bureau of Industry and Security has drafted a prerule that could lead to new emerging technology export controls on “instruments for the automated chemical synthesis of peptides.” The proposed rule, which was mentioned in the agency’s spring regulatory agenda (see 2206270007), would seek public comments on the controls and help BIS determine whether the instruments could provide the U.S. or its adversaries a “qualitative military or intelligence advantage.” BIS sent the rule for interagency review Aug. 1.
The Bureau of Industry and Security entered into a settlement agreement with a Nogales, Arizona, business owner after he tried to illegally export about $4,000 worth of items to Mexico, including ballistic helmets and rifle scopes. Under a settlement agreement, Luis Fernando Gracia must conduct an internal audit of his company’s export compliance procedures and complete compliance training or else face the suspension of his export privileges.