Plans to reorganize International Traffic in Arms Regulations are ongoing despite what has been a lengthy legal review of the draft rules, a Directorate of Defense Trade Controls official said while speaking July 9 at the Bureau of Industry and Security annual export controls conference. Through a "series of rules we are trying to make the content of the ITAR more linear and more discernable," said Rob Hart, regulatory and multilateral affairs division chief in the Office of Defense Trade Controls Policy.
The Commerce Department is planning to release its upcoming advance notice of proposed rulemaking on foundational technologies before it issues its proposed rules on emerging technologies, said Hillary Hess, director of Commerce’s regulatory policy division in the Bureau of Industry and Security, at BIS's annual export controls conference on July 10.
The Commerce Department is planning to issue multiple guidance documents on its blacklisting of Huawei Technologies due to the large number of questions from U.S. exporters, Commerce officials said during the Bureau of Industry and Security's annual export controls conference July 9-11 in Washington. Officials said the guidance will address the most common questions BIS has received from U.S. industries.
As the Trump administration pushes for export controls on certain firearms to be transferred from the State Department to the Commerce Department, top Commerce officials said the move should not be a cause for concern and said they are welcoming feedback from the public and members of Congress.
After more than 25 industry associations urged the Commerce Department to grant more time for comments on its next advance notice of proposed rulemaking for foundational technologies, top Commerce officials said it will consider the request but suggested that U.S. industries have had ample time to prepare comments.
Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the Census Bureau plan to issue a proposed rule for routed export transactions during the summer or fall of 2019, said Sharron Cook, a senior export policy analyst with BIS, at BIS’s annual export controls conference on July 10. The long-awaited proposed rule is expected to update parties’ responsibilities under the Export Administration Regulations in a routed export transaction.
The Commerce Department is reviewing export license applications to sell to Huawei in order to “mitigate as much of the negative impacts of the entity listing as possible” and hopes to have decisions “soon,” said Nazak Nikakhtar, Commerce undersecretary for the industry and security.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 24-28 in case they were missed.
Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security banned export privileges for a man who was convicted of illegally exporting gas turbine parts in 2018, Commerce said in a June 28 order. Commerce said the man, Olaf Tepper, violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after he exported parts to Germany that were intended for an end-user in Iran. Tepper did not have the proper export license from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Tepper was sentenced to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine in addition to the export ban, which included revoking all of Tepper’s BIS-related licenses. The ban will last 10 years after his conviction date of Aug. 3, 2018, Commerce said.
More than 25 industry associations are asking the Commerce Department to allow more time for public comments on Commerce’s next advance notice of proposed rulemaking for foundational technologies, which is expected in the coming weeks. The associations asked for a 90-day comment and review period in a June 27 letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.