The Bureau of Industry and Security recently revoked export privileges for two people after they illegally exported controlled items from the U.S.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs completed an interagency review of a Bureau of Industry and Security prerule that could lead to new emerging technology export controls (see 2208020009) on “instruments for the automated chemical synthesis of peptides.” The proposed rule, which was mentioned in the agency’s spring regulatory agenda (see 2206270007), would seek public comments on the controls and help BIS determine whether the instruments could provide the U.S. or its adversaries a “qualitative military or intelligence advantage.” OIRA completed its review on Aug 26.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is updating its website and Defense Export Control and Compliance System (DECCS) to reflect the International Traffic in Arms Regulations reorganization that takes effect Sept. 6 (see 2203220013), DDTC said. Updates are being made “on a rolling basis,” with the changes to the DDTC website expected to be “completed and updated” no later than Sept. 9, the agency said. Effective Sept. 6, “all DECCS applications (Registration, Licensing, Advisory Opinions, and Commodity Jurisdictions) will reflect the revised ITAR citations,” it said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has prevented more than 100 illegal exports to Russia and Belarus and detained or seized $93 million worth of shipments since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the agency said in an Aug. 25 news release. It also said it has expedited license approvals for more than $1 billion in defense equipment and services for Ukraine and has added 335 parties to its Entity List for supporting Russia’s military during that same time period.
U.S.-based technology company Oracle this month updated its export control licensing guidance for its software products. The guidance features an Export Control Classification Number matrix, which lists the ECCN for various Oracle products and whether they require a license or are eligible for certain export license exceptions. The company updated a similar guidance for its hardware products earlier this year.
The U.S.’s recently announced export controls on four technologies that can be used to produce advanced semiconductors and gas turbine engines (see 2208120038) are a “violation” of international trade rules, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce said this week. The controls -- which will impose license restrictions on two substrates of ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors, certain Electronic Computer Aided Design software and certain pressure gain combustion technology -- “will inevitably hinder international scientific and technological exchanges” and “threaten the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains,” the spokesperson said, according to an unofficial translation of an Aug. 18 news conference transcript. “The United States continues to generalize the concept of national security and abuses export control measures,” the spokesperson said.
The U.K. recently released a report on strategic export controls developments during 2021, detailing its export licensing data, efforts to conduct industry outreach, and information on compliance, enforcement, case studies and more. The U.K. said it processed about 16,400 individual export licenses during 2021 -- rejecting 245 of them -- and completed 69% of them within 20 working days, an increase from the 62% it completed during the same time frame in 2020 but a decrease from the 77% it completed in 2019. It also said it “continues to operate one of the most transparent licensing regimes in the world, publishing information on all licenses issued, refused or revoked.”
Even though U.S. export controls haven’t cut into SMIC’s profit margins, they have hurt the Chinese semiconductor company’s ability to advance its chip-producing technology, said Min-Hua Chiang, a Heritage Foundation research fellow. Because restrictions imposed by the Bureau of Industry and Security limit SMIC’s ability to import equipment for making chips below 10 nanometers, the company is “stuck with using older technology,” she wrote in an August post. “Without access to foreign equipment,” the post said, “it will be very difficult for China to produce the most advanced chips any time soon, putting a severe crimp in Beijing’s plans for its military and security apparatus.”
The University of Pennsylvania recently issued an updated version of its export control compliance manual. The new document, released last month, includes an overview of export and sanctions regulations and an outline of Penn’s export control procedures, including information on its technology control plan process, its export control analyses, its recordkeeping procedures and more.
At least 450 kinds of foreign-made parts and components have been found in Russian military equipment captured in Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion earlier this year, the Royal United Services Institute said in a report this week. The majority of those components were manufactured in the U.S., the think tank said, and at least 80 “different kinds of components” are subject to U.S. export controls.