Yi-Chi Shih, a Hollywood Hills, California, resident, was sentenced to over five years in prison for his role in a scheme to illegally ship integrated circuits with military applications to China, the Department of Justice said July 22. Shih was convicted of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Regulations and fined more than $600,000 in fines and restitution to the IRS (see 1907020071).
The Bureau of Industry and Security added six Russian entities to the Entity List for activities that threaten U.S. national security and foreign policy, the agency said in notice. The entities operate in Russia’s technology sector and support the country’s intelligence services, BIS said. The Treasury Department sanctioned all six companies in February under President Joe Biden’s executive order that targeted Russia’s defense and technology sectors and its attempts to influence foreign elections (see 2104150019). BIS also corrected one existing Russian entry on the Entity List. The rule is effective July 19.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add six Russian entities to the Entity List for activities that threaten U.S. security and foreign policy, it said in a notice released July 16. The entities, previously sanctioned by the Treasury Department under President Joe Biden’s February executive order, operate in Russia’s technology sector and support the country’s intelligence services, the agency said in the notice, which is scheduled to take effect upon publication of the notice July 19. BIS will impose a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations and a license review policy of presumption of denial. No license exceptions will be available. BIS also corrected one existing Russian entry on the Entity List.
Companies are continuing to see heavy U.S. enforcement surrounding Chinese attempts to steal U.S. trade secrets, and the government is increasingly expecting U.S. companies to voluntarily disclose violations surrounding those and other cases, lawyers said. The U.S. is hoping to increase enforcement by incentivizing companies to self-disclose sanctions and export control compliance mistakes, especially through the Department of Justice's revised disclosure policy guidelines (see 1912130047), the lawyers said.
The Commerce Department should add China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Company to the Entity List because it has “clear ties” to the Chinese military and is helping the country gain ground in the semiconductor industry, two Republican senators told Commerce. Sens. Michael McCaul of Texas and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee said the chip company also should be subject to the foreign direct product rule, which would restrict the company’s ability to import certain foreign-made semiconductor equipment that is built with or that incorporates U.S. technology. “With no [Chinese] firm or alternative foreign provider capable of providing YMTC with comparable equipment and software -- including high aperture etching tools, metrology and inspection tools, and cleaning systems -- a unilateral control” by the U.S. would “significantly hinder YMTC’s ability to implement a [Chinese] industrial plan designed to weaken U.S. national and economic security and increase its reliance on” China, the senators said in a July 12 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The U.S. updated its Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory, highlighting the increasing supply chain, sanctions, labor and export control risks of doing business in the Xinjiang region. The July 13 update, which builds and expands on the original advisory issued last year (see 2007010040), says China is committing genocide through its human rights violations against Muslim minorities, provides guidance to businesses that may invest in implicated Chinese companies, updates a list of U.S. enforcement actions related to Xinjiang and "strengthens" recommendations for companies that risk doing business in the region.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added 34 entities under 43 entries to Entity List, BIS said in a final rule. Fourteen of those entities are based in China and “have enabled Beijing’s campaign of repression, mass detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regions of China (XUAR), where the PRC continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity,” the Commerce Department said in a news release. Another five of the entities were “directly supporting PRC’s military modernization programs related to lasers and C4ISR programs, Commerce said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add 34 entities under 43 entries to the Entity List July 12. Of the 43 entries, two are located in Canada, 23 are located in China, two are located in Iran, two are located in Lebanon, one is located in the Netherlands, one is located in Pakistan, six are located in Russia, one is located in Singapore, one is located in South Korea, one is located in Taiwan, one is located in Turkey, one is located in the United Arab Emirates and one is located in the United Kingdom, it said.
Changji Esquel Textile (CJE), a Hong Kong-based apparel company and part of the Esquel group of companies, filed a July 6 lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to have its placement on the Commerce Department's Entity List dropped (Changji Esquel Textile Co. Ltd. et al. v. Gina M. Raimondo et al., D.C. Cir. #21-01798). The Trump administration put CJE on the list last year for alleged practices of using forced labor from the Muslim Uyghur minority population in China's Xinjiang region.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add four Myanmar entities to the Entity List July 6 for their support of the country’s Ministry of Defense, including through funding and the provision of telecommunications services, the agency said in a notice. BIS will also correct the address for an existing Myanmar entity on the list. The companies “pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved” in activities contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, BIS said, adding that the license restrictions will support U.S. efforts to return democracy to Myanmar.