The Bureau of Industry and Security will hold its annual update conference Nov. 28-30 in Washington, the agency announced this week. The conference will be in-person only and will feature keynote speakers, plenaries, breakout sessions and live question-and-answer periods with BIS and other agency officials. "Specific details and agenda to come," BIS said.
The State Department’s recently announced debarment of VTA Telecom (see 2305310040) highlights how cooperation with the government can lead to lower penalties, Miller & Chevalier said in a June 6 client alert. Although the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls didn’t “award credit” for VTA's disclosure, it did credit it for cooperating with DDTC’s investigation, which led to a debarment but no fine, the firm said. DDTC could have imposed a maximum $7.2 million penalty against the company.
Technology academics and industry officials this week cautioned Congress about potential U.S. export controls over quantum technologies and research, saying new restrictions without clear guidance could hamper U.S. competitiveness and innovation. But one current government official suggested the administration needs to be more “proactive” in protecting the most sensitive research from being stolen.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on a new final rule that could expand its nuclear nonproliferation export controls. BIS sent the rule for interagency review June 5, according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed the temporary denial order (TDO) for three U.S. companies for their involvement in illegally exported technical drawings and blueprints to China (see 2206080068) after continuing to find evidence of additional potential export violations. The order, originally issued June 8, 2022, before being renewed in December (see 2212080007), was renewed for another 180 days on June 1, BIS said.
Lawmakers this week previewed two bills that could expand U.S. export controls, including one that could require the U.S. to impose new license requirements on certain data exports and another that would require the administration to create a tool to counter economic coercion.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has seen a recent spike in completed end-use checks in China after years of dormancy, which has allowed the agency to verify controlled items went to their intended destination, said Matthew Axelrod, top export enforcement official at BIS. Axelrod, speaking during a Senate Banking Committee hearing this week, said the agency has completed more than 90 checks in the last seven months, a stark turnaround from a government in China that hadn’t “scheduled a single end-use check for us in over two years.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security doesn't have a draft rule in place to increase export licensing requirements for Huawei despite rumors this year that new restrictions for the Chinese technology company were imminent, said Thea Kendler, BIS assistant secretary for export administration. Kendler also said the agency has seen a sharp decline in China-related license applications, is spending more time reviewing those applications and is prioritizing reviews of artificial intelligence items, quantum computing technology and biotechnology for new export controls.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is hosting an in-person job fair June 27 to recruit export compliance specialists, engineers, cybersecurity specialists, trade analysts, criminal investigators and more, the agency said on LinkedIn this week. The job fair will be held at the Commerce Department in Washington from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.EDT. Interested applicants can begin applying to specific job openings when they are posted on USAJobs.gov beginning June 13, BIS said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security recently published its response to an advisory opinion request on whether certain information shared with the International Civil Aviation Organization during aircraft standards development activities would be subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The requester, whose name was redacted, believes that the information contains “non-proprietary system descriptions” and therefore isn’t subject to the EAR.