Companies with Chinese business ties should consider how they would be affected if the U.S. began imposing Russia-style export controls against China, said Crowell & Moring trade lawyer Jeff Snyder. Speaking during a June 21 webinar hosted by the firm, Snyder said his practice has begun conducting exercises to imagine how potential China-related controls would affect a business’ operations, which can help companies assess their risk exposure and make preemptive plans so they aren’t caught off-guard by trade disruptions.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo discussed increasing export control collaboration with South Korea in an introductory meeting this week with South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin. Raimondo “expressed her interest in continued coordination” with South Korea on the export restrictions, Commerce said, which have been imposed on many areas of Russia’s economy, including its military, technology and luxury goods sectors. Commerce in March added South Korea to the list of countries that have imposed similar export controls against Russia and are excluded from certain license requirements under the U.S.’s Russia-related foreign direct product rules (see 2203040075).
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will release its updated Licensing 2.0 application to the Defense Export Control and Compliance System on June 24, the agency said this week. The updates will “provide greater flexibility and security for users and system administrators,” DDTC said, calling it a “significant step in DDTC’s effort to continuously modernize the DECCS application suite.” To make the change, DECCS Registration and Licensing will go offline at 2 p.m. EDT June 24 and resume June 27 at 8 a.m. EDT.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week updated its list of restricted Russian and Belarusian aircraft. The updated list includes new entries for two Utair planes and one Azur Air aircraft.
Braumiller Law Group released a June 12 “primer” on deemed export control compliance, outlining who may be subject to the controls and what is considered a release of technology, source code and technical data. The post also details several examples of deemed export enforcement actions, saying penalties can be mitigated through voluntary self-disclosures and “proactive compliance measures.”
After receiving criticism this week for its lack of progress in a possible investigation of illegal exports to Huawei, a Bureau of Industry and Security spokesperson said the agency is “committed to fully investigating any allegation” of violations of the foreign direct product rule, including illegal shipments to the Chinese technology giant. The agency has come under criticism for not yet penalizing Seagate Technologies for potentially illegally exporting goods to Huawei (see 2206070011).
China’s new export controls law may apply to a broader range of items than just dual-use goods, Baker McKenzie said in a June alert. In draft regulations released earlier this year (see 2204270040), China included a provision that will allow it to also restrict exports of non dual-use goods, which could include artificial-intelligence or integrated-circuit design technologies “that are currently regulated under a separate legacy technology import and export control regime,” the firm said.
Senior Commerce Department officials traveled to Brussels last week to discuss with the EU ways they can increase coordination on Russia export control enforcement, the agency said June 2. Deputy Secretary Don Graves and Matthew Axelrod, the Bureau of Industry and Security's top export enforcement official, met with several EU officials to build on the “excellent cooperation” under the Trade and Technology Council and “ensure that the enhanced Russia controls are enforced effectively,” Commerce said. The two sides hope to speak “regularly” about export enforcement issues, expand information sharing and support each other’s investigations. They agreed to hold another round of talks this week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security completed an interagency review for a final rule that would make corrections and clarifications to the agency’s Russia and Belarus export controls. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs received the rule May 13 (see 2205160005) and completed the review May 26.
The Bureau of Industry and Security completed an interagency review for a final rule that would introduce a congressional notification requirement for certain weapons exports. The rule, sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs May 17 (see 2205180006) and completed May 24, would require notifications for certain semiautomatic firearms exports under the Export Administration Regulations.