The Bureau of Industry and Security has officially opened registration for its upcoming annual update conference to be held March 18-20. The conference is expected to feature sessions with BIS leadership and "key international representatives," and will include regulatory updates, profiles of recent export enforcement investigations, compliance guidance and presentations from the Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services. BIS hasn't yet released an agenda.
The State Department needs a better system to review export license applications for firearms, and the Bureau of Industry and Security needs to address employee shortages that are hindering its end-use checks for those exports, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has paused reviews of new export license applications submitted this month, without explanation, causing concern and frustration among exporters and trade compliance officials.
President Donald Trump has nominated congressional staffer Landon Heid to be assistant secretary of commerce for export administration at the Bureau of Industry and Security, the White House told the Senate Feb. 11.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a correction this week to its January interim final rule that created new lists of trusted chip designers and service providers; imposed a broader, worldwide license requirement for chip foundries and packaging companies shipping certain advanced chips captured by Export Control Classification Number 3A090; and made other updates to its existing chip export controls (see 2501150040). The correction, effective Feb. 11, revises 3A090 to correct that ECCN's license requirement.
U.S. export controls on computing chips and chipmaking equipment are more likely to slow China's advances in artificial intelligence than in military modernization, a researcher said during a Feb. 6 hearing of the congressionally mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
The State Department officially published the Cuba Restricted List in the Federal Register this week, days after the Trump administration reinstated the list as part of an effort to reverse last-minute moves by President Joe Biden that removed certain sanctions against the country (see 2502030055, 2501220008 and 2501170021). Entities on the list are generally blocked by the Cuban Assets Control Regulations from participating in financial transactions with U.S. parties, and the Bureau of Industry and Security will generally deny export applications "for use by entities or subentities" on the list.
The Bureau of Industry and Security revoked the export privileges of a Florida-based freight forwarding company, the company’s owner and five other businesses for illegally shipping export controlled items to Russia as recently as last year, according to a BIS temporary denial order and court documents.
The Senate Commerce Committee voted, 16-12, Feb. 5 to advance President Donald Trump’s choice of Howard Lutnick to be commerce secretary, sending the nomination to the full Senate for its consideration. The vote came days after Lutnick promised to scrutinize U.S. export controls on advanced artificial intelligence chips, telling lawmakers in recently published comments that a review of the restrictions will be “a top priority” if he’s confirmed.
Sahar Hafeez, a former senior adviser in the Bureau of Industry and Security undersecretary’s office (see 2107270016 and 2107280051), has rejoined Pillsbury Winthrop as an international trade and national security lawyer, the firm announced this week. Hafeez was most recently a senior adviser to the assistant secretary for industry and analysis at the Commerce Department before leaving government last month.