The Bureau of Industry and Security will make several “conforming and clarifying” changes to the Export Administration Regulations to fix and update country and destination references, remove “obsolete” references, correct inadvertent errors and make other minor revisions.

The Commerce Department has revoked export licenses used by Intel and Qualcomm to sell certain semiconductors to Huawei, the Financial Times reported May 7. The report said the companies used the licenses to sell chips for Huawei’s laptops and mobile phones. A Commerce spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment but told the Financial Times that the agency “continuously” assesses its export controls, and “as part of this process, as we have done in the past, we sometimes revoke export licenses.”

The Bureau of Industry and Security this week issued a correction to its April interim final rule that reduced license requirements for exports to Australia and the U.K. as part of the Australia-U.K.-U.S. partnership (see 2404180035). The correction fixes a footnote in the rule to add “greater specificity” for the Export Control Classification Numbers mentioned “so only portions of those 0x5zz ECCNs” that were previously controlled for national security or regional stability reasons for the destinations of Australia and the U.K. “will continue to require a license to Australia and the United Kingdom based on the license requirements specified in this footnote.” The changes took effect May 6.

The U.S. this week urged U.N. Security Council members “to be especially diligent” in implementing Resolution 1540, which calls on countries to prevent transfers of weapons of mass destruction and “know-how” to non-state actors. In an April 29 statement, the State Department marked the 20th anniversary of the resolution and said UNSC members should make sure “transfers of sensitive goods and know-how with both WMD and legitimate commercial applications” aren't “allowed to fall outside of regulatory control and into the hands of proliferators.”

The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) intends to provide “detailed feedback” to the State Department to help it improve proposed regulations that would exempt Australia and the U.K. from International Traffic in Arms Regulations under the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) Enhanced Trilateral Security Partnership, the head of the industry group said May 1.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is developing a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) to explain its new license exception authorizing certain exports of medical devices to Russia, it was revealed at an April 30 meeting of the agency’s Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC).

The State Department on April 30 released proposed regulations to implement an exemption from International Traffic in Arms Regulations licensing requirements for Australia and the U.K. under the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) Enhanced Trilateral Security Partnership.

The U.S., Japan and South Korea have formally launched the Disruptive Technology Protection Network to share information and best practices on keeping sensitive technology out of the hands of adversaries, the Bureau of Industry and Security announced April 26. The kickoff occurred during an April 25 trilateral summit in Washington, D.C. The network, which the countries' leaders last year agreed to form, is based on the Disruptive Technology Strike Force that BIS launched with DOJ in February 2023 to pool resources for investigating export control violations (see 2302160019).

The Bureau of Industry and Security released a final rule April 25 creating a new license exception to authorize certain exports of medical devices to Russia, Belarus and “the temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine.”

U.S. exports of semiconductors and their components to China dropped 39% to $6.8 billion in 2023 and were down 52% from their 2021 peak, partly due to restrictions the Bureau of Industry and Security released in October 2022 and expanded a year later (see [Ref:2310170055), the U.S.-China Business Council said April 23.