President Donald Trump on Aug. 19 designated Brazil a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally “for the purposes … of the Arms Export Control Act,” according to a notice. The announcement allows the U.S. to loan and sell Brazil certain goods and services subject to the AECA.

The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls changed identifying information for Sofradir EC Inc. and Bell company entities and is waiving the requirement for amendments to change approved license authorizations because of the large number of authorizations requiring amendments to reflect the change in each instance, the DDTC said. Sofradir EC is being changed to Lynred USA Inc., the DDTC said. The DDTC also modified names and addresses for more than 30 Bell companies.

Future Commerce Department export controls on artificial intelligence could end up blunting AI technology development in the U.S., according to an Aug. 8 post from Lowenstein Sandler.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments on the impact that proposed additions to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) will have on U.S. industries and commerce, according to a notice in the Federal Register. BIS is seeking comments about the additions to Schedule 1 in the “Annex on Chemicals” in the CWC that were implemented through the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act and the Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations. BIS said it wants to assess the impact on U.S. chemical, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies of the five “chemical families” being added to the annex. Comments are due Sept. 13.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank has adequately implemented its revised guidance to fix weaknesses in its monitoring of dual-use exports financed by the agency, the Government Accountability Office said in an Aug. 12 report. The GAO verified that three recent transactions had been conducted properly and did not make any more recommendations for the bank.

The State Department is seeking public comments on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that would consolidate and clarify exemptions in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the agency said in a notice. The State Department is specifically seeking comments about whether any of the exemptions are “redundant” or “contain language that introduces significant ambiguity or hinders the exemption’s intended use,” the notice said. The notice is scheduled to publish July 26. State is in the process of reorganizing the ITAR (see 1907120011). Comments are due by Aug. 26.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Larry Kudlow, the president's chief economic adviser, were set to meet July 22 with executives from Intel, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Micron, Google and other tech firms, Reuters reported. The news agency said the meeting was to discuss the restrictions on exports to Huawei, which have hurt many chip makers, and have led Google to tell Huawei its phones cannot use Android operating software. A White House spokesman told Reuters that while the Huawei ban will likely come up, that's not the purpose of the meeting.

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security is looking to make more use of the enforcement authorities it was granted under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, including more undercover operations, wiretapping and investigations, said Adrienne Frazier, a lawyer for BIS. Speaking on a panel during the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference in Washington on June 27, Frazier said BIS previously had the ability to conduct investigations in coordination with federal law enforcement. But ECRA gave BIS more individual authorities and investigative abilities, she said. “I think that those are going to be things the agency looks to do more of. It’s something that I think the agency is keen to do.”

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security renewed the temporary denial order of export privileges issued to Mahan Airways and several affiliated people and entities in 2018, according to an order signed by the Office of Export Enforcement on June 5. The order was renewed to “prevent an imminent violation” of more regulations, Commerce said.

The State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs imposed statutory debarments under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations on 23 people who violated the Arms Export Control Act, the department said in a notice scheduled to be published in the June 6 Federal Register. The 23 people have been convicted of violating the AECA, the notice said, and are banned from receiving export licenses for defense products or services for three years after the conviction. The 23 people must also request reinstatement from the State Department before completing any transactions subject to the ITAR, the notice said, and are allowed to request reinstatement one year after the debarment.