As CBP prepares to launch its electronic export manifest system, the agency should increase collaboration with stakeholders, provide clear guidelines for regulators and eliminate redundant data requirements, the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee’s Export Modernization Working Group said in proposed recommendations. The recommendations were released this month ahead of COAC’s Dec. 4 public meeting.
A U.S. electronics and computer component company may have violated U.S. sanctions on Iran and Syria, the company said in a Nov. 7 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Colorado-based Arrow Electronics said a “limited number of non-executive employees … facilitated product shipment” to customers for re-export to people covered by U.S. sanctions on Iran and Syria. The transactions took place between 2015 and 2019 and were valued at about $5,000, the company said. Arrow Electronics said it voluntarily disclosed the potential violations to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls and the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security earlier this year. It also disciplined or fired employees involved in the transactions and said it plans to “cooperate fully” with BIS and OFAC. The company said it is not able to “estimate” the potential penalty it may receive.
The Department of Commerce published its fall 2019 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security. The agenda includes a new mention of its intent to potentially control certain additive manufacturing equipment, or 3D printing, used in “energetic materials” as part of BIS’s effort to restrict sales of emerging technologies (see 1911210051). The notice of proposed rulemaking aims to gather feedback from industries while “discussions are ongoing” at the Wassenaar Arrangement. BIS said it aims to issue the proposed rule in November.
The Commerce Department will likely seek multilateral support for upcoming export controls on additive manufacturing of metals, said Sean Ghannadian, a Bureau of Industry and Security official and part of Commerce’s Wassenaar Arrangement group. Commerce is also moving toward controlling certain ceramic coating technologies as part of the agency’s effort to identify and restrict sales of emerging technologies (see 1911200045), Ghannadian said.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security finalized some interagency reviews of Huawei license applications and will begin issuing approvals and denials on a “rolling basis,” according to Matt Borman, Commerce deputy assistant secretary for export administration. The announcement was first made by Secretary Wilbur Ross, who told Fox Business on Nov. 19 that Commerce has started “to send out the 20-day intent-to-deny letters and some approvals.” Ross also said Commerce has received about 290 “requests for specific licenses.”
The Commerce Department has been “slow” to complete a series of export control reviews mandated by the Export Control Reform Act, including the agency’s upcoming controls on emerging and foundational technologies, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said.
The Commerce Department renewed the temporary general license for Huawei and 114 of its non-U.S. affiliates until Feb. 16, Commerce announced Nov. 18. The renewal -- the license’s second extension (see 1908190039) since it was issued in May -- authorizes certain specific activities and transactions, including those related to existing network operations of mobile services, despite Huawei's addition to the Entity List.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security updated its International Import Certificate on Oct. 31 to reflect several changes, including an amendment that extends the validity of the certificate from six months to 24 months after the date of issue. The IIC certifies to the U.S. that the importer will only re-export their goods in compliance with U.S. export controls
Days before the Commerce Department's temporary general license for Huawei is set to expire, the agency and Secretary Wilbur Ross declined to say whether they will extend the license, but said it has been beneficial for U.S. rural communities. Ross suggested that Commerce would like to keep it going.
The Commerce Department officially revoked export privileges for AW-Tronics, a Miami-based company also known as Arrowtronic, for violations of the Export Administration Regulations, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a Nov. 15 notice. BIS previously revoked export privileges for Arrowtronic, manager Arash Caby and registered agent Ali Caby on Nov. 14 for illegally exporting aircraft parts to Syrian Arab Airlines (see 1911130043). BIS named AW-Tronics as part of the scheme, saying the business was referred to as the “same company” as Arrowtronic in company documents and emails, the notice said. BIS revoked export privileges for AW-Tronics for six years from Oct. 30, 2019.