The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 82 entities, mostly in mainland China, to the Entity List, targeting technology companies, chip firms, electronics businesses and others for their ties to Chinese military end-users. The additions, the first since President Donald Trump took office in January, also target entities in Taiwan, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Iran for a range of reasons that BIS said are “contrary to the national security and foreign policy” of the U.S.
Companies moving export-controlled goods should generally require customers to fill out end-user and end-use statements for all transactions, even if the shipments are for less sensitive EAR99 items, Commerce Department officials said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 82 entities, mostly in China, to the Entity List, it said in two final rules released March 25. One notice, effective March 25, adds 11 mainland China-based companies and one Taiwanese company for trying to illegally buy export-controlled items for the country’s military or for having other ties to Chinese military end users. Another notice, effective March 28, will add 42 entities in China, 19 in Pakistan, four in the United Arab Emirates, three in South Africa and two in Iran for a range of reasons that are “contrary to the national security and foreign policy” of the U.S., including some for contributing to China’s quantum technology capabilities.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on multiple export control-related investigations that could soon lead to public penalties and criminal indictments, Commerce Department officials said last week. They also said BIS is doubling down on Iran-related enforcement as part of the Trump administration's renewed maximum pressure campaign against the country.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has begun to experience a significant decline in export license applications for Australia and the U.K. as a result of a rule it issued last year to reduce defense-related licensing requirements for those countries, a Commerce Department official said March 19.
The Bureau of Industry and Security plans later this month to add 30 companies and remove 17 others from its boycott requester list, a list of entities that have asked other companies to boycott goods from certain countries in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (see 2412300003). The change will bring the total number of companies on the list to 165, a Commerce Department official said at the BIS annual update conference this week. The official said the list has “driven foreign parties to change their behavior by” convincing them to eliminate boycott language from their business documents.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week updated its website with a new page that lists all past BIS-related rules and notices published in the Federal Register; new tools to search the Commerce Control List; and more, a Commerce Department official said at the agency’s annual update conference. The official said the updates are the “first phase of our ongoing enhancement and migration efforts to transition information from the” old BIS website to the new one (see 2312040016).
The Bureau of Industry and Security hasn't yet lifted all the licensing holds that began for export applications in early February, a Commerce Department official said this week, although the agency is hoping to make progress on the holds soon.
The Bureau of Industry needs better resources and technology, and the semiconductor industry needs better tracking tools, to prevent China from illegally receiving and accessing advanced chip technology, a researcher told a BIS advisory committee this week.
Although the Bureau of Industry and Security recently resumed processing certain license applications that it had paused in early February as part of a broader export control policy review, the agency is still holding applications for a range of items destined to countries outside a group of about 40 U.S. allies and other trading partners, two people with knowledge of the holds said.