An Iranian citizen who lived for a time in Turkey was charged in two separate indictments for violating U.S. export laws, including several counts of conspiracy to export goods to Iran and to a Specially Designated National, the Department of Justice said in a June 4 press release. Peyman Amiri Larijani -- operations manager for Kral Havacilik IC VE DIS Ticaret Sirketi (Kral Aviation) -- was indicted on 34 counts of violating export laws in 2015 and four counts in 2016.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is amending the Export Administration Regulations to impose tougher restrictions on non-commercial aircraft and passenger vessels authorized to fly or sail to Cuba on temporary sojourn. The final rule amends license exception Aircraft, Vessels and Spacecraft to remove the eligibility for exports to Cuba of such aircraft and vessels. It also sets a general policy of denial for such exports except for in cases of a foreign policy or national security interest. “Consequently, private and corporate aircraft, cruise ships, sailboats, fishing boats, and other similar aircraft and vessels generally will be prohibited from going to Cuba,” BIS said. License exception AVS will still be available for commercial aircraft and cargo vessels exported to Cuba on temporary sojourn. The final rule takes effect June 5.

Foreign manufacturers need to be aware that their products may be covered by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security's listing of telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei on the Entity List, even if they aren't manufactured in the U.S., according to an alert by law firm Sheppard Mullin. U.S. export controls on Huawei and its affiliates may apply to a substantial scope of foreign goods that contain more than 25 percent U.S.-origin content. Under the BIS de minimis rule, products are subject to the Export Administration Regulations -- and consequently new license requirements for Huawei -- if more than one-fourth of the product is composed of U.S.-origin content that is also controlled under the EAR, except for “EAR99 items” or products that do not require a license, the alert said.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security said the Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) scheduled a partially open meeting June 4 in Washington. The public session will include an export enforcement update, regulations update, working group reports, an Automated Export System (AES) update, and presentations of papers or comments by the public. The open session will be accessible via teleconference to 25 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. To join via teleconference, submit inquiries by May 29 to Yvette Springer at Yvette.Springer@bis.doc.gov. A limited number of seats will also be available for the public session.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security is looking for new members for its seven Technical Advisory Committees, the agency said in a notice. The TACs "advise the Department of Commerce on the technical parameters for export controls applicable to dual-use items (commodities, software, and technology) and on the administration of those controls." Six of the TACs are focused on the technical parameters of export controls, and the seventh is focused on the regulations and procedures, BIS said. The members are chosen by the Commerce secretary and must obtain secret-level clearances, it said. Nominations are due by June 15 and should go to Yvette.Springer@bis.doc.gov.

The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls' Defense Export Control and Compliance System (DECCS) Commodity Jurisdiction application is live, the State Department said in a May 6 notice. The new system allows users to save commodity jurisdiction applications as drafts and return to them later. Users can also now download a PDF version of the submitted form for record keeping, State said. Commodity jurisdiction determinations allow users to determine whether a product or service is covered by the U.S. Munitions List and subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations export controls, State said. All “DTrade Super Users with valid email addresses” were automatically enrolled in DECCS, the notice said.

Regulations of U.S. export controls have recently become “more difficult to apply,” according to a study released May 6 by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The study, which focuses broadly on methods that Chinese companies use to transfer technology from the U.S., said regulators are facing more difficulty predicting which “early-stage technologies developed for commercial purposes” could be used for future military purposes. The study also briefly touched on the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, signed into law in 2018, which allows the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review transactions by foreign entities in the U.S. to determine their impact on national security. The study said FIRRMA leaves some methods of Chinese technology transfers “unaddressed,” including “investments in U.S. critical technologies based outside” the U.S.

A former consultant for the Arms Trade Treaty said President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the pact may "haunt" the U.S. for years and could place U.S. exporters’ supply chains at risk. Rachel Stohl -- in a May 3 commentary on WarOnTheRocks.com, a national security website -- wrote that while U.S. exporters still will be subject to “strict U.S. export control laws,” exporters “could see their supply chains or access to customers put at risk if a trading partner puts limits" on countries not party to the treaty.

The State Department's update to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations for U.S. government transfers (see 1904180024) marks "a huge and long awaited improvement," Arent Fox lawyers said in a blog post. Still, when exporting to countries on behalf of the U.S. government goods that will be received by someone outside the U.S. government, "you will still need to get a license or other approval in most cases," the firm said. According to Crowell Moring lawyers, the most significant change is "the government’s expanded use of contractor personnel in supporting [U.S. government] missions often involving foreign parties," according to a firm alert. "The exemption now expressly covers defense services and other exports by 'persons or entities in a contractual relationship with the U.S. Government' where use of the defense article or performance of the defense service is within the scope of such contract and where any one of three specified conditions exist and assure government control and oversight of the transfer."

Correction: A national security memorandum regarding U.S. policy on conventional arms transfers that mandated enhanced trade promotion and regulatory simplification was issued April 19, 2018 (see 1904220049).