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.”

The Export Control Reform Act may not result in significantly different controls on emerging technologies (see 1912130055) than what would have been proposed under the U.S.’s existing export control system, a former top Commerce Department official said. Eric Hirschhorn, former undersecretary for the Bureau of Industry and Security from 2010-2017, also said Commerce’s efforts to restrict sales of foundational technologies might be too late. “I have grave doubt whether the assignment to control emerging and foundational technologies will result in controls significantly different from what the existing system -- which operates fairly well -- would have produced,” Hirschhorn said in a Jan. 3 post for China Business Review.

The United Kingdom officially updated its list of dual-use items subject to export controls (see 1912310021), the Department for International Trade said in a Jan. 8 notice. The DIT said it will soon update and republish any affected open general export licenses. The amended list of export controlled items was the result of agreements recently made by international export regimes. All items on the list require an export license by the U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit.

Companies should be mindful of complying with U.S. export controls when exhibiting products at air or trade shows, which could lead to export violations due to increased inspections from U.S. Customs officials, according to a Jan. 8 post from Wilmarth & Associates. Companies should ensure that military and defense-related products or parts are not taken with company employees to the shows without first receiving a license from the State or Commerce department, the post said. Companies must also review technical data or technology that may be provided to foreign people or companies during the trade shows to ensure it does not require a license. U.S. Customs inspectors and agents “have an increased awareness” of trade shows held for the aerospace and defense industry, the post said, and “there is an increased scrutiny of export documents and interviewing of returning travelers.”

The Trump administration successfully persuaded the Dutch government to not renew an export license for a Dutch chip manufacturer, which was poised to sell the technology to China, according to a Jan. 6 Reuters report. The administration “mounted an extensive campaign” to block the sale, which included lobbying from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House officials, who shared “classified intelligence” with the Netherlands’ prime minister, Reuters said. The campaign began in 2018 after the Netherlands granted an export license to ASML, a semiconductor equipment company, to sell “its most advanced machine” to a Chinese customer.