The State Department on Oct. 18 completed an interagency review for a proposed rule that would amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to expand the definition of activities that are not exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports. The rule was sent for interagency review Oct. 6.

Apple has suspended plans to use memory chips from China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. in its products, Nikkei Asia reported Oct. 17. The report comes days after YMTC was added to the Commerce Department’s Unverified List (see 2210070006) and after the agency announced a sweeping set of China-related export controls (see 2210070049). If Commerce can’t complete an end check of YMTC within 60 days after its addition to the UVL, the Chinese company may be moved to the more restrictive Entity List.

The State Department is seeking public comments on steps it can take to combat international deforestation, including by removing commodities grown on deforested lands from agricultural supply chains. The agency hopes the recommendations lead to proposed legislation as it looks to implement an executive order on strengthening the U.S.’s forests. Comments, requested this week, are due Dec. 2.

The State Department is seeking public comments on four information collections overseen by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. One deals with approval requests for its manufacturing license agreements, technical assistance agreements and other agreements; another involves the maintenance of records by DDTC registrants; a third involves the annual brokering report; and the last relates to the agency’s “Brokering Prior Approval” license. Comments are due Dec. 19.

A recently signed California law will “significantly” limit the ability of marine container providers or terminals to impose detention and demurrage charges, law firm Cozen O’Connor said in an alert this month. The law, effective Jan. 1, outlines 10 situations in which container providers will not be able to begin or continue free time or impose fees on motor carriers and cargo owners “due to circumstances ostensibly beyond those parties’ control,” the firm said.

U.S. spirits exports are “gradually” rebounding after the EU and U.K. recently agreed to lift retaliatory tariffs against certain U.S. liquors, the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. said last week. The U.S. exports, including whiskey, increased by about 20% from January to July compared with the same period last year, the council said. The EU suspended its 25% tariff on U.S. spirits for two years from Jan. 1, 2022, while the U.K. lifted its 25% tariff in June.

A federal government payment website, Pay.gov, will conduct a “Disaster Recovery Exercise” 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT Oct. 15 and may be unavailable to users during that time, the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said. DDTC said the outage will affect users paying registration fees during that window. Questions or concerns should be directed to Pay.gov customer support at (800) 624-1373 or pay.gov.clev@clev.frb.org.

The State Department on Oct. 6 sent an interim final rule for interagency review that proposes to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to expand the definition of activities that are not exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports. The rule will propose to amend the ITAR by “specifying two additional activities.”

The State Department approved a potential military sale to Kuwait worth about $3 billion, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Oct. 6. The sale includes a “National Advanced Surface-To-Air Missile System,” a “Medium Range Air Defense System” and related equipment. The principal contractor will be Raytheon Missiles and Defense.

The Defense Department on Oct. 5 released another list of Chinese companies with ties to the country’s military. The latest tranche includes 13 companies, including businesses operating in the country's technology sectors. The list includes at least two companies that are also on the Commerce Department's Entity List: Shenzhen DJI Innovation Technology Co. (DJI) and CloudWalk Technology Co.