The U.S. should take steps to address a range of loopholes in its export control regimes, including its inability to conduct end-use checks in China and unregulated technology transfers resulting from outbound investments, said Nazak Nikakhtar, former acting head of the Bureau of Industry and Security. “We have a lot of gaping holes in our export control system,” Nikakhtar told the Senate Intelligence Committee May 11. “I think we really need to tighten those up.”
Companies should expect the Commerce Department to add more entities to the Entity List for aiding Russia amid its war in Ukraine, said Thea Kendler, the agency’s assistant secretary for export administration. Commerce has so far added more than 100 entities to the list for supporting the Russian and Belarusian militaries (see 2204040006). Kendler, speaking during a May 12 Materials and Equipment Technical Advisory Committee meeting, said the agency is looking at entities in both Russia and Belarus "that may be contributing to the military industrial complex."
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week extended by a month a public comment period to allow more time for feedback on the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council's Secure Supply Chains Working Group. BIS said it wants to allow commenters to “take into account any developments or announcements that may occur” during the TTC’s upcoming meeting in France May 15-16. Comments, originally due May 23 (see 2204050012), are now due by June 23.
The Transportation and Related Equipment Technical Advisory Committee is considering asking the Bureau of Industry and Security for more Russian export control guidance and is hoping to help address the agency's backlog of military end-user license applications, said committee Chair Ari Novis, chief global trade officer for Pratt & Whitney.
The Commerce Department is working with allies to create a new multilateral export control enforcement coordination mechanism to better tighten gaps in global export control regimes, said Matthew Axelrod, the agency’s lead export enforcement official. Axelrod said more enforcement cooperation can strengthen the effectiveness of the controls, particularly for Russia-related restrictions.
The U.S., the EU and the other G-7 members on May 9 announced a series of new sanctions and restrictions on Russia, including a ban on providing certain business management services to the country and a commitment to phase out imports of Russian oil. New U.S. restrictions include broader export controls and sanctions targeting Russian banking executives, a weapons manufacturer and state-owned media.
The University of Pennsylvania posted presentation materials from the first and second day of its annual University Export Control Conference last week. The materials include agency update presentations from the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and other government agencies. Among the presentation materials are ones on foreign influence investigations, implementing a research security program and how to construct an export control program in a university setting.
The U.S. expanded export controls on Russia to cover a broader range of “commercial and industrial operations,” including wood products and construction machinery, the Commerce Department said. The new controls make more items on the Export Administration Regulations subject to “stringent” licensing restrictions for export to Russia, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a final rule that includes the specific Schedule B numbers and Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes of the newly restricted items. Commerce said the items previously didn’t require a license for “most exports” to Russia.
The U.S.-China competition will be the “geopolitical challenge for this generation,” Cordell Hull, principal at WestExec Advisors, told an online symposium May 5 on Indo-Pacific geopolitics hosted jointly by the Asia programs of the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) and the Wilson Center. “I certainly hope it can be managed,” and that it “doesn’t lead us into places where neither country really wants to go,” he said.
PHILADELPHIA -- The Bureau of Industry and Security may look to increase collaboration with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, to help them better investigate export control violations, said Thea Kendler, BIS’ assistant secretary for export administration. Although BIS helps train agents from other departments at the Export Enforcement Coordination Center, it could look into bolstering that work, Kendler said May 4 at the annual University Export Control Conference at the University of Pennsylvania.