The Bureau of Industry and Security revoked export privileges for Manuel Valencia-Hermosillo for illegally exporting ammunition and magazines to Mexico, BIS said in a Nov. 9 order. The agency said Valencia-Hermosillo violated the Arms Export Control Act when he shipped 11,000 rounds of Wolf 7.62 X 39mm ammunition, 100 Palmetto State Armory 5.56 rifle magazines and 100 Korean 7.62 X 39 rifle magazines, all of which were controlled under the U.S. Munitions List. Valencia-Hermosillo was convicted Oct. 13, 2017, and sentenced to 15 months in prison, three years of supervised release and a $100 fine. BIS denied Valencia-Hermosillo’s export privileges for seven years from the date of conviction.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls published the presentation slides from its Nov. 4 Defense Trade Advisory Group meeting. They include materials from two DTAG working groups, one on best practices for conducting internal audits, and the other on recommendations to ease post-authorization record-keeping and reporting requirement burdens (see 2111050037 and 2111050046).
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has experienced email “disruptions” with its customer service inbox and may not have received messages sent in July, August, September and October, DDTC said in a recent notice. Emailers should resend their messages to DDTCCustomerService@state.gov if they haven’t received a response with a case number.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee members introduced a bill Nov. 4 that would require more export controls and sanctions against those contributing to or profiting from the civil war in Ethiopia. The bill, introduced by committee Chair Sen. Bob Menendez, N.J., ranking member Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., “builds upon” the U.S.’s Ethiopian sanctions regime by requiring “targeted sanctions” against people and entities undermining peace in the country, doing certain business with senior government leadership, providing weapons to the warring parties and more. Although the Biden administration in September established a new Ethiopian sanctions regime (see 2109170036) and recently increased export restrictions for defense exports to Ethiopia (see 2110290004), the U.S. hasn’t yet issued specific sanctions.
Some record-keeping and reporting requirements in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations are burdensome and causing unnecessary issues for defense exporters and the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, industry told DDTC last week. The agency can take several steps to ease these burdens, including through more automation when submitting reporting notifications and more clarity of ITAR requirements.
The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is preparing to publish new compliance program guidelines to help industry better meet agency compliance expectations, an official said. DDTC is also “close” to rolling out its new open general license concept, another official said, which would allow blanket approvals for certain shipments to close U.S. allies, potentially including Five Eyes alliance members.
The Biden administration is still working through a sweeping review of its arms transfer policies, which is expected to place more of an emphasis on human rights concerns while helping to remove foreign barriers to U.S. defense exporters, said Tim Betts, a senior State Department official. He said the agency is in the middle of an “intensive” interagency process and “wide ranging” discussions with industry and Congress to determine how best to revise its conventional arms transfer policies, which could represent a more cautious approach compared with the previous administration.
The State Department amended the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to reflect the sanctions imposed against Ethiopia and Eritrea last month (see 2109170036 and (see 2109200006). The agency revised the ITAR to “codify” that the U.S. will adopt a policy of denial for export licenses for defense articles and services to certain end-users in those countries, according to a notice. The policy of denial applies to defense exports to or for “armed forces, police, intelligence, or other internal security forces” for both Ethiopia and Eritrea. The agency also revised the ITAR to make certain technical and administrative changes to reflect the new policy. The changes are effective Nov. 1.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is seeking public comments on six proposed information collections related to defense exports, according to a notice released Oct. 28. Comments are due Dec. 1. The information collections are:
The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls recently posted a name change notice for ST Engineering Land Systems Ltd., KIS Division, a legal entity of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd. It also is waiving the requirement for amendments to change approved license authorizations because of the “volume” of authorizations requiring amendments to reflect the change, DDTC said. ST Engineering Land Systems Ltd. will become ST Engineering Land MRO & Services Pte. Ltd., effective Jan. 1, 2022.