Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Oct. 4-8 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The U.S.’s new export restrictions over certain biological equipment software could have a major impact on life science companies, universities and research organizations, and could present significant foreign investment screening hurdles, law firms said. While the restrictions were issued multilaterally and will only seek to stop certain software exports that can be exploited for biological weapons purposes, firms warned that the new restrictions could still be difficult to manage.

China-U.S. economic and trade relations “are essentially mutually beneficial,” a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said when asked Oct. 8 about remarks by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that the Biden administration wants to reengage Beijing in new rounds of trade talks and hold China accountable for its commitments under the January 2020 phase one trade agreement (see 2110040049). “There is no winner in a trade war,” the spokesperson said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security should work to raise export enforcement awareness and prioritize deterrence through large penalties, said Matthew Axelrod, President Joe Biden’s nominee to oversee BIS enforcement work. Speaking during his nomination hearing last week, Axelrod highlighted BIS’s yearslong lack of Senate-confirmed leadership in the Office of Export Enforcement and said his background as a federal prosecutor makes him the right fit for the role.

The U.S. needs to strike a better balance between protecting sensitive U.S. technology from the Chinese government and fostering open academic environments for research and innovation, lawmakers said. But reaching that balance will be challenging, they said, and U.S. universities are struggling to comply with the complex array of export control regulations and disclosure requirements associated with Chinese tech acquisition and influence attempts.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is considering requesting public comments on new export controls for certain brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. The agency sent the pre-rule for interagency review Oct. 5 and said it hopes to determine whether BCI represents an emerging technology important to U.S. national security and whether “effective controls can be implemented.”

Although U.S. traders would widely welcome the U.S. rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, industry officials are disappointed with the country’s lack of urgency on the trade pact and don't expect the Biden administration to prioritize the deal before its term ends. While they said mini trade deals, such as the 2020 agreement with Japan (see 1912050058), can serve as “short-term” bandages, they aren’t nearly enough to make up for the benefits U.S. traders would have received under TPP.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Sept. 27-Oct. 1 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The export control jurisdiction for exports of deuterium for non-nuclear end-uses will transfer from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Bureau of Industry and Security, BIS said in notice. While those exports will be controlled under the Export Administration Regulations, BIS stressed that deuterium exports intended for nuclear end-uses will still be subject to the NRC’s export licensing jurisdiction. BIS has been considering the change, which will take effect Dec. 6, since at least June (see 2109240011).

The Bureau of Industry and Security will add export controls on certain biological equipment software that may be exploited for biological weapons purposes (see 2109290011), the agency said in an Oct. 5 final rule. The rule, issued in proposed form in November 2020, will align U.S. controls with the multilateral Australia Group by placing restrictions on exports of “nucleic acid assembler and synthesizer” software “capable of designing and building functional genetic elements from digital sequence data,” BIS said. The agency said the software will be added to the Commerce Control List as an emerging technology and falls under BIS’s efforts under the Export Control Reform Act (see 2109080062).