Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for 2019 in case they were missed.
More than half of the sanctions-related enforcement actions issued by the Treasury Department in 2019 involved supply chain violations, signaling that supply chain compliance is one of the most important factors in avoiding violations, according to a December report released by Kharon, a sanctions advisory firm. The penalties are mostly due to deficiencies in three main areas of supply chain compliance, Kharon said: companies that operated in “heightened-risk jurisdictions,” companies that operated “existing and newly acquired” foreign subsidiaries, and companies that showed deficiencies while monitoring actors in its supply chain.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 16-20 in case you missed them.
World Trade Organization members should take several steps to resolve the WTO’s dispute settlement system “crisis” (see 1912090031), including better enforcement of the 90-day time frame for appeals and prohibitions on advisory opinions, according to a report by Bruce Hirsch of Tailwind Global Strategies and commissioned by the National Foreign Trade Council that was released Dec. 17. WTO members should also consider issuing guidance on Articles 3.2 and 19.2 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding to clarify that it “does not justify expanding or narrowing the reach of WTO provisions or filling gaps.” In addition, “customary rules of interpretation of public international law” should “not justify gap-filling and expanding or narrowing the reach of WTO provisions,” the report said, and members should better address disagreements surrounding the appellate body’s findings on antidumping issues. Lastly, members should direct the body to “reject party arguments that expand or narrow the reach of agreement provisions or fill gaps in agreements.”
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's upcoming proposed rules on emerging technologies will be narrow, impacting only specific slices of technologies, according to a Dec. 17 Reuters report. Commerce is finalizing proposed rules on quantum diluted refrigerators, a rule regulating 3D printing for explosives, “Gate-All-Around Field Effect transistor technology” (GAAFET) and two rules restricting sales of chemicals used to make Russian nerve agent Novichok and “single-use chambers for chemical reactions,” Reuters said. A Commerce rule for GAAFET is in the proposed rule stage, according to a recent Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs notice. A top Commerce official recently pinpointed six categories in which the agency plans to propose the rules (see 1912160032), and BIS officials have said for months the rules will be narrow (see 1912160006, 1911200045 and 1906280057).
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 9-13 in case you missed them.
The Commerce Department plans to release its first set of proposed controls on emerging technologies in six areas, including the semiconductor and artificial intelligence sectors, a top Commerce official said. The six proposed rules (see 1912130055), which may not be released until early next year, include restrictions on items in the fields of quantum technology, semiconductor design, chemicals, biotechnology, artificial intelligence and possibly 3D printing, said Matt Borman, Commerce’s deputy assistant secretary for export administration. The controls stem from an advance notice of proposed rulemaking published more than a year ago.
Douglas Hassebrok was appointed by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to be deputy assistant secretary for export enforcement in the Bureau of Industry and Security and acting assistant secretary for export enforcement, according to Jim Bartlett of Full Circle Compliance. Hassebrok was previously BIS director of the Office of Export Enforcement. John Sonderman was named to Hassebrok's previous role at BIS in an acting capacity, Bartlett said, citing agency sources. BIS didn't comment.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed cloture Dec. 12 on the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. S. 1790 includes language targeting Huawei and ZTE. McConnell’s cloture motion sets up a likely Senate vote this week. The House approved the measure Wednesday on a 377-48 vote. The House and Senate Armed Services committees released the conference text earlier in the week after months of work to blend the Senate- and House-passed (HR. 2500) measures. The conference version includes a modified text of House-side anti-Huawei language originally sought by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., that would modify conditions for the Commerce Department to lift the Bureau of Industry and Security’s addition of Huawei to its entity list. It would require Huawei to prove it “sufficiently resolved or settled” supply chain security issues that led to its inclusion on the BIS entity list. The Commerce Department has since approved Huawei-related export licenses for U.S. companies to have their products included in the Chinese telecom equipment maker's products. The conference NDAA also includes Gallagher’s proposal to direct the president to report to Congress on ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE.
BOSTON -- The Commerce Department is preparing six initial proposed rules to control exports of emerging technologies and hopes to release at least one before the end of the year, said Karen Nies-Vogel, the director of the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Office of Exporter Services, speaking during a Dec. 13 event hosted by the Massachusetts Export Center. A Commerce official said during a technical advisory committee meeting earlier this month that the agency is working on at least three rules (see 1912100019). While Commerce officials have said the technologies would be published this year (see 1910290062), delays have caused the publication to be pushed back.