Commerce secretary nominee Gina Raimondo was asked several times in written questions from senators after her hearing about how she would balance the need to prevent cutting edge technologies from being shared with adversaries but also allow U.S. semiconductor manufacturers to compete with foreign companies that don't have the same restrictions on selling chips.
Mediterranean Shipping Company will pay over $80,000 to settle allegations that it violated anti-boycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations, according to documents recently posted to the Bureau of Industry and Security website. The steamship line’s Chicago office allegedly agreed to requests to add Israel boycott clauses to shipping documentation, and failed to report those requests as required by the EAR, BIS said in charging documents.
The Bureau of Industry and Security, in the Census Bureau’s January trade newsletter, addressed several frequently asked questions about filing requirements for exports to China, Russia and Venezuela. The agency detailed how electronic export information (EEI) filing requirements apply to exports and which license exceptions are available. It also provided contact information for exporter questions. Filing requirements apply to more exports than just those captured under the agency’s April rule on exports to military end-users and for end-uses (see 2004270027), BIS said. There won’t be a new “license-type code” for EEI filings in the Automated Export System for exports controlled for anti-terrorism reasons, BIS said.
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Princeton University was fined $54,000 and ordered to audit its export control compliance program after committing 37 U.S. export violations, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a Feb. 1 order. BIS said the university illegally exported “various strains and recombinants” of an animal pathogen, which were controlled for chemical and biological weapons reasons, to overseas research institutions without the required BIS licenses.
A Bureau of Industry and Security spokesperson dismissed criticism from national security experts that technology is moving too fast for BIS export controls (see 2101290021) and said the agency is committed to continuing its congressionally mandated emerging technology efforts. “That technology is developing quickly does not negate the imperative of appropriate export controls to prevent access by actors who would use those technologies contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” the spokesperson said in a Jan. 29 email. Although BIS has issued 38 emerging technology controls, the House’s Republican-led China Task Force last year criticized BIS for being too slow to roll out a substantial list of emerging and foundational technologies (see 2010010020). The spokesperson said BIS is still reviewing the roughly 80 comments it received on its pre-rule for foundational technologies (see 2008260045 and 2011130037).
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week published an updated version of its senior management team. BIS now lists Jeremy Pelter as acting undersecretary; G. Nagesh Rao as acting chief information officer; and Opher Shweiki as acting chief counsel.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Singapore-based electronics and software distributor more than $3 million and suspended its export privileges for violating the Export Administration Regulations, which included illegal exports to China and Iran, according to a Jan. 29 order. BIS said Avnet Asia Pte., Ltd. committed 53 EAR violations over several years when it sold export-controlled electronic components totaling more than $1 million. The Justice Department also charged Chinese national Cheng Bo, a former Avnet Asia employee, for participating in a conspiracy to violate U.S. export laws.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued orders temporarily denying export privileges for three people involved in illegal exports. Irma Lizette Trevizo was convicted April 30, 2019, of conspiring to smuggle firearms and ammunition from the U.S. to Mexico, BIS said in a Jan. 25 order. Trevizo was sentenced to two years in prison, two years of supervised release and a $100 fine. BIS denied Trevizo’s export privileges for 10 years from the date of her conviction.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a California business owner $540,000 and suspended his export privileges after he allegedly caused false information to be submitted on controlled exports to Russia, BIS said Jan. 27. The agency said Julian Demurjian, who owned CIS Project, violated the Export Administration Regulations when he provided false values for exports of telecommunication equipment controlled for national security, encryption and anti-terrorism reasons.