The Bureau of Industry and Security and its technical advisory committees should do more public outreach to make sure companies are aware of important export control updates sometimes buried in Federal Register notices, a BIS committee heard last week. That outreach is especially critical for companies working with industrial chemical processing equipment, a committee member and industry lawyer said, which has commercial uses but is increasingly drawing BIS scrutiny for its military capabilities, including in chemical weapons.
U.K. negotiators flew to Seoul this week to begin talks on upgrading a trade deal with South Korea that was negotiated more than a decade ago. The U.K. specifically wants to put in place “digitalised customs procedures,” simplified rules of origin and “reduced or zero tariffs” for exports to South Korea, adding that it wants to take better advantage of South Korea’s “booming import demand.”
Members of the multilateral Missile Technology Control Regime need to do more to account for rising innovation and commercialization in the global space technology industry, which may be making export control enforcement more challenging and increasing the risk of missile proliferation, researchers said in a recent report.
A new proposed rule from the Census Bureau could change how the agency regulates in-transit shipments that travel through the U.S. from foreign countries before being exported to another foreign destination.
The U.S. this week unveiled new trade and financial restrictions against people and companies across more than 17 countries for helping Russia evade sanctions or for supporting the country’s military, adding nearly 400 to the Treasury Department’s sanctions list and more than 40 to the Commerce Department’s Entity List. Another move by Commerce will tighten existing controls on nearly 50 entities that it said are procuring U.S.-branded microelectronics for Russia.
An indictment was unsealed on Oct. 22 charging Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps brigadier general Ruhollah Bazghandi and members of his network with sanctions evasion, among other charges, in their efforts to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York City, DOJ announced.
The Pentagon removed China-based Hesai Technology from its list of Chinese companies that it said have ties to that country’s military but immediately relisted the firm, according to a pair of Federal Register notices published this week.
New export controls over U.S. persons’ support for certain foreign military, intelligence and security services activities would place too much strain on both the government and industry compliance departments, disadvantage American exporters compared with their foreign competitors, and may provide no clear benefit to U.S. national security, companies and trade groups told the Bureau of Industry and Security.
China released new dual-use export control regulations Oct. 19, including details about its export licensing system, how Beijing will verify end-users of export-controlled items, how the rules may apply outside the country, and a method for adding restricted foreign importers, end-users and others who violate Chinese export controls to a new “control list.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add 26 companies and people to the Entity List after the agency said they violated U.S. export controls -- including by supplying sensitive items to China, Iran, Pakistan or Russia -- or failed to comply with U.S. end-use checks.