New Hampshire-headquartered NuDay was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine after it filed false export information, DOJ said Dec. 28. The agency said the five-year probation sentence for NuDay, founded as a nonprofit charity, was the “maximum penalty for an organizational defendant.”
The Commerce Department published its fall 2023 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security, including proposed rules involving its export controls for semiconductors and semiconductor equipment.
Seven Republican senators led by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced a bill this month aimed at countering the Commerce Department’s recent 90-day pause in issuing commercial firearms export licenses.
A U.S. appeals court this month upheld the conviction and 57-month prison sentence of Florida business owner Peter Sotis for conspiring to and illegally attempting to ship export-controlled rebreather diving equipment to Libya.
The Bureau of Industry and Security may be preparing to introduce new export rules for certain firearms, gun parts and ammunition, including one change that would require certain end-users to submit their passports to BIS and another that would shorten the validity period of certain licenses from four years to one year. Other changes could introduce new Export Control Classification Numbers for certain firearms and parts, require exporters to first obtain an import certificate from the importing country, and create a new working group to review firearms-related license applications.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on the impact of the Chemical Weapons Convention on commercial activities during 2023. The agency is specifically looking for feedback on how activities involving Schedule 1 chemicals were affected to determine whether CWC decisions "harmed" the “legitimate commercial activities and interests of chemical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical firms” this year. Comments are due by Jan. 19.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week suspended the export privileges of several people, including one person for illegally exporting goods to a university on the Entity List.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is urging the Commerce Department to block exports of chip design software to China’s Brite Semiconductor, which reportedly offers chip design services to six Chinese military suppliers (see 2312130020).
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review that could make certain export control changes on items destined to Nicaragua. The rule, sent for review Dec. 20, would revise the export, reexport and in-country transfer controls for Nicaragua under the Export Administration Regulations “consistent with U.S. policy.”
The U.S. this week sanctioned 10 companies and four people with ties to Iran’s unmanned drone program, including Hossein Hatefi Ardakani, the Iranian-based leader of the network who helped illegally procure hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of U.S. and foreign-made components to Iran. Along with the new sanctions, DOJ charged Ardakani and his accomplice, China-based Gary Lam, for violating U.S. export controls.