The Office of Management and Budget has approved the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive's proposed rule entitled: Importation of Arms, Ammunition and Implements of War and Machine Guns, Destructive Devices, and Certain Other Firearms; Extending the Term of Import Permits.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced that a local pawn shop manager and five other employees have been arrested for smuggling ammunition from the U.S. into Mexico. The scheme allegedly involved selling large quantities of ammunition and large-capacity ammunition magazines to ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) undercover agents. The defendants allegedly repackaged the ammunition from its original factory-rigid cardboard boxes into taped bundles or plastic bags to make it easier to conceal from authorities. During the investigation, federal agents seized about 34,500 rounds of assault-caliber ammunition and more than 180 large-capacity magazines for AK-47- and AR-15-type firearms.
The Coalition for Security and Competitiveness has asked President Obama to reaffirm the importance of the Export Control Reform initiative to cabinet officials and task White House staff with bringing the regulatory overhaul to a prompt and successful conclusion, including taking six listed steps by the end of 2011. These include prioritizing the immediate movement of the vast majority of USML parts and components to the CCL while the ongoing USML list review continues; establishing an intra-company transfer license; simplifying encryption controls; etc.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced that Andrew O'Donnell has been sentenced to serve three years in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a fine of $2,500 for illegally selling through an eBay online store export-controlled military items, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act. Between January 2008 and January 2009, O'Donnell sold more than 50 export-controlled EOTech Holographic Weapon Sights to a customer in Hong Kong without the required export license. He devised a scheme to export the items by falsely marking the shipment as "toys." He also sold VLTOR Upper Receivers, a gun part used in assembling a certain rifle, to a customer in Japan. He arranged to have the items shipped out of the country through a third party in order to make the sale appear legitimate and to further conceal his illegal export activities.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued an order denying certain export privileges for a period of 25 years and imposing a civil penalty of $100,000 against Jianwei Ding for his involvement with the export of Toray M40JB-6000-50B carbon fiber and Toray M60JB-6000-50B carbon fiber, items controlled under the Export Administration Regulations for nuclear proliferation and national security reasons, from the U.S. to China without a license. Ding acted as the manager of Jowa Globaltech Pte. Ltd. aka FirmSpace Pte. Ltd. and Far Eastron Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore-based companies that acquired items for customers including the China Academy of Space Technology.
The State Department has issued a fact sheet announcing a briefing on September 12, 2011 with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 (UNSCR 1540) Committee on how the U.S. Government implements its obligations under UNSCR 1540, which requires member nations to establish effective export control systems.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has withdrawn its final rule entitled "General Order: Suspension of Export and Reexport Licenses for Items to Libya" from the Office of Management and Budget approval process.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has posted three new guidance documents related to its May 2011 final rule, effective August 15, 2011, that will exempt from approval requirements, under certain conditions, intra-company, intra-government, and intra-organization transfers of defense articles to dual or third-country national employees. Among other things, DDTC says that applicants may begin submitting TAAs and MLAs incorporating the new policy on August 1; however, DDTC will not start approving these agreements until August 15.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has announced the following entity name and/or address change(s) for new DDTC license applications. New license applications received after the listed deadline will be considered for return without action for correction to the new name and/or address (dates hyperlinked):
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has issued two new guidances, "Guidelines for Implementing New Dual National/Third-Country National Policy for Agreements" and "Implementation Considerations: Dual/Third National Rule," regarding the August 15, 2011 implementation of the new 22 CFR 126.18 rule, which establishes screening requirements to exempt from approval requirements, under certain conditions, intra-company, intra-government, and intra-organization transfers of defense articles to dual country or third-country national employees. The agreement guidance is available here. The implementation guidance is available here. DDTC has also issued a Frequently Asked Questions document, available here.