Traders who use the “batch submission process” to send license information to the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls need to receive the latest version of the client software from OCR Services before the Defense Export Control and Compliance System is launched, the DDTC said Feb. 13. The updated client version contains “necessary revisions” for submitting in batch, the DDTC said. DECCS will launch Feb. 18 (see 2002040060).

India’s Ministry of Defense amended its export control regulations, according to a notice posted on Feb. 3. The changes include an update to India’s Category 6 munitions list, simplified procedures for the export of munitions list items, and a new “end-to-end” online portal for authorizing exports. In addition, India’s Department of Defense Production will now serve as the licensing authority for Category 6 exports, replacing the Director General of Foreign Trade.

The Commerce Department is seeking comments on an information collection related to the “Technology Letter of Explanation,” Commerce said in a notice. The letter provides a description of the technology proposed for export to allow the Bureau of Industry and Security technical staff to evaluate the impact on the national security and foreign policy of approving a license. Comments are due April 6.

The Strategic Trade Research Institute released a winter-spring report in January on emerging technologies that examines how companies can mitigate trade risks, advocates for a new approach to export controls, and explores the challenges and compliance mechanisms for emerging technology controls from a European perspective. The report from the STRI, a non-profit trade research institute, also provides background on the U.S. effort to control emerging technologies, including the beginning of the export control reform movement in 2010 and the U.S.’s “critical technology approach,” which defines which technologies to target. Among several topics, the report argues more “innovative approaches” are needed to address the rapid rise of emerging technologies, such as an “omni-use” term instead of a “dual-use” term to address the lack of a “broad consensus” on the potential military and civilian uses of certain emerging technologies. The report also introduces a “model” to identify parameters to determine “technology controllability” as governments face the difficult task of controlling “intangible technology exports.”

The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls published documents related to the Sept. 26, 2019, Defense Trade Advisory Group plenary meeting, DDTC said in a Jan. 28 notice. The documents include meeting minutes, presentations and a white paper.

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security updated its organizational chart to reflect staffing changes. The chart, which was updated Jan. 22, lists Cordell Hull as acting undersecretary for industry and security, Jeremy Pelter as performing the non-exclusive duties of acting deputy undersecretary for industry and security, Kevin Kurland as deputy chief of staff for policy, and Stephen Billy as deputy chief of staff.

The State Department is adjusting its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice published in the Federal Register. The new amounts will apply only to penalties assessed on or after the Jan. 14 effective date of the notice, the agency said.

The Commerce Department’s narrow set of controls on exports of geospatial imagery software issued earlier this month (see 2001030024) could foreshadow a more “targeted and restrained approach” in the agency’s emerging technology effort, according to a Jan. 8 post from Paul Hastings. By limiting the controls to software that is only “specially designed” for specific purposes, such as “training a neural network to analyze geospatial imagery,” Commerce is signaling its intention to impose controls that only capture small slivers of technology, the post said. “The move might signal an inclination by [the Bureau of Industry and Security] to take a careful approach to regulating [artificial intelligence] and other emerging technologies.”

The White House proposed a series of regulatory principles on governing artificial intelligence development and removing “barriers” to U.S. AI innovation, in a Jan. 7 memorandum. The memo -- which comes as the Commerce Department considers export controls on emerging technologies that include AI (see 1912160032) -- said federal agencies should deploy a “regulatory approach that fosters innovation, growth, and engenders trust” while also “protecting core American values, through both regulatory and non-regulatory actions.” The memo urges agencies to avoid regulations that “needlessly hamper AI innovation and growth” and encourages them to “provide ample opportunities” for the public to comment on regulatory efforts.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce laid out its priorities for trade in 2020, and most of them were well-known in 2019: getting USMCA passed; ending steel and aluminum tariffs; negotiating comprehensive trade agreements with Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom. But lesser-known priorities are: ensuring that new regulations on foreign ownership of American firms are focused on national security issues, and arguing for a balanced approach in the regulations from the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 that protect “national security without unduly hindering legitimate commerce.” The Chamber also said Jan. 9 that it wants Congress to approve “permanent normal trade relations with Kazakhstan and its graduation from the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the Trade Act of 1974.”