The Bureau of Industry and Security on Dec. 11 will add eight companies to the Entity List for “enabling human rights violations,” including by supplying sensitive technology or military items to foreign governments that are subject to strict license requirements. The entities are located in Myanmar, China and Russia, the agency said in a final rule released Dec. 10. They will be subject to license requirements for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and licenses will be reviewed under a presumption of denial.

The Bureau of Industry and Security added more than 100 entities to the Entity List and released a new set of semiconductor-related export controls on Dec. 2, introducing new license requirements for both U.S.-origin and foreign-produced chip tools and publishing new red flag guidance on how companies should be vetting Chinese chip factories.

The Bureau of Industry and Security will add more than 40 entries to the Entity List for shipping sensitive items to Russia or for other activities that support Russia’s military, and it will tighten restrictions on nearly 50 entities already on the list that BIS said are procuring U.S.-branded microelectronics for Russia, the agency said in a final rule released Oct. 30. BIS also plans to introduce new chemical weapons-related controls for certain chemical precursors that Russia has used in chemical weapons against Ukraine, it said in a separate final rule.

The Treasury Department issued a pre-publication version of the final regulations for its outbound investment program, which will set new prohibitions and notification requirements to limit certain U.S. business activities in the semiconductor, artificial intelligence and quantum sectors of mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau beginning Jan. 2. The final rule, released Oct. 28, adopts many of the regulations proposed by the agency earlier this year along with a host of notable tweaks, clarifications and refinements, including a more detailed description for the rules’ AI investment threshold, insight into the agency’s due diligence expectations for U.S. companies and updates to the scope of exempt transactions.

The Bureau of Industry and Security on Oct. 23 will add 26 companies and people to the Entity List for trying to buy controlled U.S. items for China’s military, evade sanctions against Russia, supply sensitive goods to Iran or Pakistan, or for evading U.S. end-use checks, the agency said in a final rule released Oct. 21. BIS will also remove two entities from the list and update the address information for another entity.

The U.S. will soon reduce licensing requirements for exports of certain space-related items to a range of countries and may transfer export control jurisdiction over other space-related defense items from the State Department to the Commerce Department, according to four rules released by the agencies Oct. 17. The rulemakings are designed to “modernize” U.S. export controls on space technologies, a senior Commerce official told reporters, including by easing restrictions on exports of less sensitive space technologies, certain spacecraft-related items and more.

The Bureau of Industry and Security will add eight companies in China, Germany, Pakistan and Turkey to its Unverified List, it said in a final rule released Oct. 15 and effective Oct. 16. It will also remove one company in China and one in Saudi Arabia. All export license exceptions involving the parties added to the list will be suspended, and exporters must file certain Electronic Export Information and obtain a statement from any party listed on the UVL before proceeding with certain exports.

The State Department fined U.S. defense firm RTX Corp. $200 million to settle alleged violations of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, one of the largest standalone export penalties ever issued by the agency. The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said the 750 violations, most of which involved the “historical systemic failures” of an aerospace systems company acquired by RTX, stemmed from export control classification issues, the illegal “hand-carry” of defense items to another country and violations of the terms of DDTC licenses. RTX voluntarily disclosed the violations, which included exports of prohibited items to Lebanon, Iran, Russia and China.

The Bureau of Industry and Security will add 123 entities to the Entity List, expand the scope of its Russia/Belarus-Military End User Foreign-Direct Product rule, add export controls on certain computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools-related software, and makes corrections to the agency’s Russia and Belarus controls, the agency said in two rules released Aug. 23. The Entity List and FDP rule updates take effect Aug. 27, and the new CNC controls and other corrections take effect Sept. 16.

The Bureau of Industry and Security will add six entities to the Entity List and update its Unverified List to include 13 new parties and remove eight others, the agency said in a pair of rules released July 2 and effective July 3.