The Bureau of Industry and Security is looking for new candidates to serve on each of its six technical advisory committees, a notice said. The TAC members -- selected from industry, academia and government -- will help advise the Commerce Department on export controls and may serve terms of not more than four consecutive years. Applicants should send a resume and other required information to Yvette.Springer@bis.doc.gov by June 6.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a correction this week to its final rule that added 120 new entities to the Entity List April 1 for supporting Russia’s and Belarus’ militaries (see 2204010080 and 2204040006). The agency said its inclusion of the “Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus” on page three was a mistake. BIS said that entity was “not included in the regulatory text of the rule and reference to it in the preamble was inadvertent.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security on April 7 suspended the export privileges of three Russian airlines for violating U.S. export controls against Russia. The agency issued 180-day temporary denial orders for Aeroflot, Azur Air and UTair, which bar the airlines from participating in transactions with items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, BIS said. The agency said it may renew the denial orders after 180 days.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments to help inform the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council's Secure Supply Chains Working Group. BIS said it’s specifically seeking feedback on how to “advance supply chain resilience and security in key sectors,” including semiconductors, solar photovoltaics, critical minerals and materials and pharmaceuticals. The agency is “particularly interested” in comments from foreign and domestic entities that “actively participate” in supply chains involving semiconductors, solar photovoltaics, critical minerals and pharmaceuticals. Comments are due May 23.
If the Bureau of Industry and Security’s new undersecretary doesn’t quickly prove he can make progress on export controls for foundational technologies, Congress should consider moving the authority to a different agency, said Derek Scissors, a China economics expert with the American Enterprise Institute. Although lawmakers have previously threatened to revoke BIS’s authority under the Export Control Reform Act (see 2111170064 and 2110250035), Scissors said they should wait to first hear whether newly confirmed undersecretary Alan Estevez has a plan to speed up the agency, which has been criticized for moving too slowly on the controls.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is extending by 30 days the comment period for an information collection involving the Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations and the CWC’s declaration, report handbook and forms. The collection describes the purpose of the CWC and U.S. reporting obligations. Comments, originally due March 14, are now due May 5 (see 2201110021).
After the Bureau of Industry and Security added 120 entities to its Entity List last week for supporting the Russian and Belarusian militaries (see 2204010080), senior BIS official Thea Kendler said the U.S. won’t “hesitate” to impose more export restrictions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on an information collection for the agency’s surveys and assessments of U.S. industrial sectors and technologies. The survey data provides "needed information to benchmark industry performance and raise awareness of diminishing manufacturing capabilities,” BIS said. Comments are due June 3.
The Senate confirmed Alan Estevez to be the next undersecretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security March 31, marking the end of a monthslong nomination process and giving BIS its first confirmed leader in more than five years (see 2104070026 and 2107130004). Estevez will take over BIS at a critical time for the agency, which in recent weeks has been tasked with crafting and implementing hundreds of pages of new export control regulations to penalize Russia for its war in Ukraine.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week revoked export privileges for five people after they illegally exported defense items or weapons ammunition.