U.S. companies that sell defense products or services to foreign countries or entities must report all offsets agreements greater than $5 million to the Bureau of Industry and Security by June 15, the agency said in a notice. Companies also must report information on offsets transactions completed “in performance of existing offsets commitments for which offsets credit” of $250,000 or more “has been claimed from the foreign representative,” the notice said. Commerce is asking for reports of offsets transactions that took place during calendar year 2023.
American chip company Applied Materials has received multiple U.S. government subpoenas in recent months -- including one from the Bureau of Industry and Security -- asking for information about its exports to Chinese customers.
The compromise six-bill appropriations package that congressional negotiators unveiled March 3 contains $191 million for the Bureau of Industry and Security in FY 2024, the same as the FY 2023 enacted level and $31 million below the Biden administration’s request.
Several companies recently disclosed potential export control or sanctions violations or updated the status of their current disclosures, including several technology businesses, a pharmaceutical company and a cryptocurrency software platform company. The disclosures describe potential violations of U.S. sanctions against several countries -- including Russia, Iran and North Korea -- and one company receiving a no-action letter from the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Companies should continue to see more Chinese additions to the U.S. Entity List this year, although Russia sanctions likely will continue to dominate the government’s time and resources, trade lawyers said this week.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee’s Export Modernization Working Group published a draft recommendation and a summary of its recent work ahead of the COAC’s March 6 meeting (see 2402150016).
New regulations that the Commerce Department is considering for commercial gun export licenses would “devastate” the American firearms industry by imposing overly burdensome requirements, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and 11 other Republican senators told the agency.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added a Chinese electronics company and a Canada-headquartered technology software company to the Entity List for trying to illegally acquire U.S. items or for being involved in other activities that are “contrary” to U.S. national security and foreign policy, the agency said Feb. 26. It also removed one United Arab Emirates-based entity from the Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security recently released a fact sheet to mark the one-year anniversary of its Disruptive Technology Strike Force, the group formed with DOJ to pool resources toward investigations and prosecutions of high-priority export control cases. In the last year, the group has charged 14 cases involving alleged sanctions, export control violations or illegal transfers, issued temporary denial orders against 29 entities and helped “numerous parties” be placed on the Entity List and the Specially Designated Nationals List. It also said it recently added enforcement teams in the Eastern District of North Carolina, the Western District of Texas, and the Southern District of Georgia.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on Feb. 21 completed a round of interagency review for an interim final rule that could clarify export control rules for certain semiconductors and expand a license exception for government end users. The rule, sent for interagency review Jan. 26, could clarify controls on certain “Radiation Hardened Integrated Circuits” and expand License Exception GOV (governments, international organizations, international inspections under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the International Space Station).