The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is seeking comments on an information collection involving nontransfer and use certificates information collections. Companies must submit those certificates to DDTC with any manufacturing license agreement or technical assistance agreement that involves "significant military equipment or classified defense articles, including classified technical data," the agency said. The foreign consignee or foreign end-user and applicant -- and in some cases a foreign government official -- must fill out this form to certify that the foreign end-user won't reexport, resell or dispose of the defense articles "outside the foreign country named as the country of ultimate destination" or to "any other person." Comments are due Oct. 24.

The U.S. should pass the Chip Security Act, a bill that would mandate location tracking for U.S. exports of certain advanced chips (see 2506250027), because it would allow American firms to boost exports of chips without “losing visibility or control over where those chips end up,” argued Kit Conklin, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick spoke with Bureau of Industry and Security employees during a town hall meeting Aug. 19, where he discussed their "vital work supporting Trump’s America First Trade Policy, which boosts U.S. industry, secures supply chains, and protects American tech from foreign exploitation," the agency said in a social media post. "BIS enforces export controls, closes loopholes, and keeps innovation domestic, driving thriving industries and national security."

The U.S. should rent out AI chips to China instead of selling them, a strategy that would allow American firms to continue profiting while giving the U.S. the ability to cut off access at any time, researchers said.

The future effectiveness of U.S. export controls will depend on which technologies the government targets, how it collaborates with allies, and how well the U.S. is able to resource the Bureau of Industry and Security, said Navin Girishankar and Matt Borman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The State Department completed interagency review Aug. 12 for a final rule that would amend restrictions against Cyprus under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule, sent July 31 to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, could build on past measures to relax export restrictions on certain defense goods and services involving the country (see 2409260011), which have been renewed each year since 2020.

Pacific Biosciences of California, an American biotechnology firm, said it recently informed the Bureau of Industry and Security about possible export violations involving China.

Michael Kratsios, director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, suggested this week that the U.S. is against imposing export controls on open-weight AI models.

The White House this week extended a national emergency that authorizes certain export control regulations. It was renewed for one year beyond the original Aug. 17 expiration.

Taiwanese authorities have detained three people after accusing them of stealing technology trade secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., according to multiple reports. The Taiwan High Prosecutors Office said Taiwan detained the people late last month after a TSMC internal investigation revealed that former and current employees had illegally obtained information from the company, Reuters reported. TSMC fired the workers, who allegedly stole sensitive chip technology, Nikkei Asia reported.