The Bureau of Industry and Security is extending the public comment period for an information collection involving the Chemical Weapons Convention provisions in the Export Administration Regulations. The collection describes the purpose of the CWC, U.S. reporting obligations and information on certain end-use certificates. Comments were due Oct. 28, but BIS said it’s allowing for another 30 days (see 2408270015).
The U.S., Australia and the U.K. signed a “landmark” agreement to use each other’s hypersonic flight testing facilities and share technical information to develop, test and evaluate hypersonic systems and technologies, the Pentagon announced this month. The agreement was signed under Pillar II of the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) partnership, which aims to reduce trade barriers and boost collaboration among the three nations around sensitive defense technologies.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control will retire its RSS feed Jan. 31 but continue to provide updates about recent sanctions actions by email, the agency announced Nov. 22. OFAC website users can sign up for email updates here. Technical support questions should be sent to O_F_A_C@treasury.gov.
The State Department approved two possible military sales, to South Korea and to Ukraine, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 19. The South Korea sale includes $6.2 billion worth of equipment and services to upgrade its F-15K aircraft fleet, and the primary contractors will be Boeing, Raytheon and BAE Systems. Ukraine will buy equipment and services to refurbish vehicles along with technical assistance, training and more for $100 million, and the principal contractor hasn’t yet been chosen.
The State Department approved a possible $70 million military sale to the U.K., the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 18. The sale includes 46 "Tactical Combat Training System Increment II" air combat training systems. The principal contractors will be Collins Aerospace and Leonardo DRS Systems.
The Federal Maritime Commission is seeking public comments on information collections related to marine terminal operator schedules, service contracts, non-vessel-operating common carrier service arrangements and negotiated rate agreements. Comments are due Jan. 21,
President-elect Donald Trump will nominate billionaire businessman Howard Lutnick to be Commerce Department secretary, Trump announced Nov. 19. "He will lead our tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative," Trump said in a statement.
Correction: Mark Handley, a lawyer with Duane Morris, spoke about European sanctions and export control enforcement during a Nov. 12 virtual event hosted by the Sanctions Center (see 2411120019).
The State Department approved a possible $160 million military sale to Greece, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 14. The sale includes "F-16 Engine Follow-On Support and other elements of logistics and program support," and the principal contractor will be General Electric Aerospace.
The Federal Maritime Commission is asking the parties to a West Coast ocean shipping and port agreement to provide more information about their alliance before an updated version takes effect, it said in a notice released this week.