The Bureau of Industry and Security this week suspended the export privileges of nine people, after eight of them were convicted of illegally exporting guns and ammunition, and one person was convicted of illegally smuggling pumps and engines.
The Census Bureau is still deciding whether to introduce a country of origin reporting requirement in the Automated Export System despite receiving mostly opposing comments on the proposal, with trade groups saying the change could lead to costly compliance challenges (see 2203160026 and 2301230008). Gerry Horner, chief of the agency’s trade regulations branch, said the division should be meeting with upper management “very soon” to decide on the best path forward.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week added 32 parties to its Unverified List after it was unable to verify their “legitimacy and reliability” for receiving export-controlled items. The additions include 14 entries in China, five in the United Arab Emirates, four in Turkey, two in Germany and one each in Bulgaria, Canada, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
New frequently asked questions on the Bureau of Industry and Security's October China chip controls are “almost through their clearance process,” Sharron Cook, a BIS official, said during a Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting this week. “Those should be up shortly,” she said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will soon request feedback from industry, academia and others on key differences in U.S. and EU interpretations of export control provisions, said Charles Wall, BIS’ senior policy adviser for the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council. Wall, speaking during a BIS technical advisory committee meeting this week, said the notice will ask for “very specific information” on discrepancies between the two territories' export control regimes and ways those rules can be harmonized.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is hoping its new Disruptive Technology Strike Force leads to more investigations of export control violations, faster prosecutions and more criminal enforcement actions, said John Sonderman, director of the BIS Office of Export Enforcement. The agency also is looking to clamp down on U.S.-origin items ending up in Iranian drones, said Kevin Kurland of OEE, warning that companies should make sure they’re complying with the new Iran Foreign Direct Product Rule issued last month.
The Commerce Department this week released proposed “guardrails” for recipients of Chips Act funding, which could restrict how the funding is used in certain countries and align the guardrails with export restrictions. The proposed rule would block funding recipients from pursuing certain chip investments in China and other “foreign countries of concern,” restrict them from participating in certain research or technology licensing efforts with those countries, prevent the funding from being provided to companies on the Entity List and more, Commerce said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is preparing to publish a proposed rule that would expand the agency’s restrictions on certain activities that support foreign military, security or intelligence services. The rule, expected next week, would implement a provision in the FY 2023 defense spending bill that one lawmaker hailed as the “largest expansion of presidential export control authority in several years” (see 2212210032).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is relaxing its licensing policy for certain satellite exports, a change that could have a “major” impact on satellite industry sales, Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves said. As part of the change, BIS will review export applications for satellites and satellite components intended to go to Missile Technology Control Regime countries on a case-by-case review policy instead of a presumption of denial, Graves said.
The Census Bureau and CBP this week announced new reporting requirements for exporters sending certain chip-related items to China under a temporary general license or “authorization letter” from the Bureau of Industry and Security. Electronic filers of export information must now use one of Census’ two new license codes in the Automated Export System when using a BIS authorization that exempts them from certain licensing requirements under the agency’s sweeping China chip controls released in October (see 2210070049).