As the Bureau of Industry and Security asks for more funding from Congress to improve its enforcement and technological capabilities, the agency could benefit from more information about controlled exports leaving third countries, said Matt Borman, a former senior BIS official. He also stressed the importance of the U.S. carefully calibrating any new export controls, and said its current semiconductors restrictions have successfully slowed China from producing the most advanced chips.
A Bureau of Industry and Security move to adopt a 50% rule for parties on the Entity List would expand the list to cover thousands of new subsidiaries in nearly 100 jurisdictions, risk intelligence firm Kharon said this week. While Russia and China would account for most of the subsidiaries, Kharon said the list could cover hundreds more in the EU, the U.S., the U.K., Singapore, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, Australia and India. "Almost none" of those subsidiaries ever have appeared on a government-run restricted party list, it said.
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A Texas-based industrial equipment supplier and its former CEO were fined millions of dollars for intentionally violating sanctions and export control laws, but the U.S. declined to prosecute its parent company after the firm voluntarily disclosed the violations and cooperated closely with DOJ’s investigation.
David Peters, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement (see 2504300061), said June 12 that he would “aggressively” enforce U.S. export controls to ensure sensitive American technology doesn’t end up in the hands of adversaries.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should consider working with companies to help them carry out extra due diligence for certain chip exports and should introduce a notification requirement for exports of advanced AI chips, researchers said in a new report last week. Those and other recommendations could help BIS better prevent illegal chip smuggling, they said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on an information collection for the agency’s surveys and assessments of U.S. industrial sectors and technologies. The survey data provides "needed information to benchmark industry performance and raise awareness of diminishing manufacturing capabilities,” BIS said in a Federal Register notice. Comments are due Aug. 12.
The Bureau of Industry and Security, which is seeking a major budget increase in FY 2026 (see 2505020030), would use the funding boost to add hundreds of employees to enhance its compliance and enforcement capabilities, agency head Jeffrey Kessler said June 12.
The Commerce Department is still waiting to issue its long-awaited proposed rule on routed exports despite making progress on the effort in recent months, said Omari Wooden, assistant division chief for trade outreach and regulations at the Census Bureau.
The Bureau of Industry and Security’s lack of an official replacement regulation for the Biden-era AI diffusion rule is causing significant uncertainty for companies working in the semiconductor sector, industry officials said this week. Although BIS has said it doesn’t plan to enforce the rule, at least one consultant said she’s not yet comfortable advising clients to ignore those restrictions.