The Bureau of Industry and Security added 77 entities and people to the Entity List, including China’s top chipmaker, to further prevent China and other countries from acquiring sensitive U.S. technologies, the agency said Dec. 18. Along with China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, the Entity List additions include China-based DJI, one of the world’s largest drone makers, and companies in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Malta, Pakistan, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company and more than 60 companies to the Entity List for actions “deemed contrary” to U.S. national security. BIS said SMIC, China’s top chipmaker, has concerning ties to China’s government and risks transferring imported U.S. technology to the country’s military. Other companies will be added to the Entity List for human rights abuses, for supporting China’s militarization of the South China Sea, for diverting U.S. products to China’s military and for the theft of U.S. trade secrets. BIS did not immediately say when the restrictions will take effect.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Dec. 15 completed its review of a final Bureau of Industry and Security rule that would remove Hong Kong as a “separate destination” under the Export Administration Regulations. OIRA began reviewing the rule in November (see 2011090007). BIS said in its fall regulatory agenda that it hopes to publish the rule in February 2021 (see 2012150037).
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Dec. 14 began reviewing an interim final Bureau of Industry and Security rule that will expand end-use controls. If published, the rule will expand certain end-use and end-user controls on “specific activities of U.S. Persons.” A BIS spokesperson declined to comment.
China is a threat to the U.S., Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said, and he said there's a risk that “the next administration could roll back much of the progress we’ve made the past few years, in an attempt to return to the failed dream of engaging and accommodating China.” Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Subcommittee on Economic Policy, led a subcommittee hearing Dec. 16 on U.S.-China Economic Competition. Cotton said during the hearing that export controls must be tightened.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Dec. 7-11 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Commerce Department published its fall 2020 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security, including new mentions of rules to amend Hong Kong under the Export Administration Regulations, releases of controlled technologies to standards setting bodies and a range of new technology controls.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Dec. 11 began reviewing a final Bureau of Industry and Security rule that will implement more export controls agreed to at the 2019 Wassenaar Arrangement plenary. BIS published the first set of controls from the plenary in October (see 2010020042) but has since experienced rulemaking delays (see 2012080046).
Doug Hassebrock, the Bureau of Industry and Security's top enforcement official responsible for national security issues, retired last month. Hassebrock served as the deputy assistant secretary for export enforcement and left in early November, BIS official Hillary Hess said during a Dec. 8 Commerce Department technical advisory committee meeting. Kevin Kurland, director of BIS’s Office of Export Analysis, is acting in Hassebrock’s role, Hess said. A BIS spokesperson didn’t comment.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Nov. 30-Dec. 4 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.