The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a correction to a June final rule that introduced new export controls and expanded existing restrictions against Russia and Belarus (see 2406120036). The correction fixes a typo.
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review that could remove export licensing requirements for certain spacecraft and related items destined to Australia, Canada and the U.K. BIS sent the rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Aug. 30.
The Netherlands won’t renew licenses that had allowed leading Dutch chip equipment maker ASML to repair and maintain certain semiconductor equipment in China, Bloomberg reported last week. Those licenses are expected to expire later this year, the report said, and had covered ASML’s advanced deep ultraviolet lithography machines. The Bureau of Industry and Security had been pushing certain allies, including the Netherlands, to stop their semiconductor companies from servicing certain advanced chip tools under pre-existing contracts with Chinese customers (see 2403270038).
Abigale Belcrest, a former deputy chief of staff at the Bureau of Industry and Security, has joined the Commerce Department’s National Semiconductor Technology Center as a senior policy adviser and project manager, according to their LinkedIn page. Belcrest left BIS in May before temporarily joining the U.S. Economic Development Administration as a policy adviser.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on two export-related information collections, it said in notices this week.
Hungarian national Bence Horvath was charged with violating U.S. export controls on Russia by conspiring to ship radio communications technology to Russian government end users without a license, DOJ announced Aug. 26. Horvath is charged with one count of conspiring to violate the Export Control Reform Act of 2018.
Some companies are struggling to meet a due diligence threshold set by the U.S. government for sales to foreign suppliers accused of illegal sales to Russia, said Anne van de Heetkamp, vice president of product management for global trade intelligence at Descartes Systems Group.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should clarify whether new export controls aimed at preventing China from obtaining advanced computing chips apply to artifical intelligence-capable central processing units (CPUs), researchers with Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security reached a $44,750 settlement with Streamlight, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of portable lighting products, after BIS said the firm violated the Export Administration Regulations’ antiboycott provisions. Streamlight committed the antiboycott violations by certifying to a freight forwarder -- as it prepared for a Bahrain trade show -- that its goods didn’t come from Israel.
New guidance issued last week by the Bureau of Industry and Security outlines how exporters should use contractual clauses in their sales contracts to prevent Russia-related trade violations, including how BIS views the EU’s requirement for a “no-Russia” clause. The agency also warned foreign corporate service providers about letting “bad actors” use rented addresses for billing or shipping, which they can use to evade detection when violating export controls.