Alan Estevez, undersecretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security during the Biden administration, has joined Covington & Burling as a senior adviser. Estevez is joining the firm's practice groups working on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and international trade controls. Estevez served as undersecretary for more than three years, during which he oversaw the introduction and implementation of a range of new export control rules to restrict sales of advanced semiconductors and chip-related technology to China; new export restrictions against Russia; the continued expansion of the Entity List; and more.
All 24 members of the House Select Committee on China urged the Trump administration May 6 to consider adding Chinese robotics company Unitree to the Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List and the Pentagon's Section 1260H list of Chinese military companies.
The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11 along party lines May 6 to approve Landon Heid to be assistant secretary of commerce for export administration, sending his nomination to the full Senate for consideration.
The U.S. this week said it won’t be prosecuting a NASA contractor for export control violations because the organization quickly self-reported the breaches and demonstrated “exceptional and proactive” cooperation with DOJ’s National Security Division. The announcement came after one of the contractor’s employees pleaded guilty to illegally exporting flight control software to a Chinese company on the Entity List and embezzling at least $161,000 in software license sales from those exports.
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The Bureau of Industry and Security said April 24 that it added 18 entities to its Unverified List after it was unable to verify the “legitimacy and reliability” of the parties through end-use checks, including their ability to responsibly receive controlled U.S. exports. It also removed five companies from the list.
The Bureau of Industry and Security said April 24 that it added 18 entities to its Unverified List after it was unable to verify the “legitimacy and reliability” of the parties through end-use checks, including their ability to responsibly receive controlled U.S. exports. It also removed five companies from the list. The added entities are located in China, Finland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Turkey and the U.K., while the removed ones are in China and the United Arab Emirates.
When imposing trade restrictions on China, the U.S. should do more analysis to better understand how Beijing might retaliate with export controls, a former State Department official said April 14.
The first few weeks of Undersecretary Jeffrey Kessler’s tenure at the Bureau of Industry and Security have been defined by industry uncertainty and skepticism toward career government and business officials, industry members and BIS staff said.
House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., reintroduced a bill April 14 that could lead to additional sanctions on China for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.