The Bureau of Industry and Security should increase its enforcement of semiconductor export controls to prevent American-made computing chips from ending up in Russian weapons and Chinese artificial intelligence systems, the Democratic majority staff of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a new report released this week.
California-based electronics parts manufacturer and supplier Integra Technologies agreed to pay the Bureau of Industry and Security $3.3 million after admitting to violating U.S. export controls on Russia, telling BIS that it didn’t realize the transistors it was shipping needed an export license.
The U.S. government needs a better framework to allow various agencies to coordinate on economic security measures, such as export controls and investment restrictions, Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on a set of FAQs for its recently released China-related semiconductor export control rules (see 2412020016), which should clear up confusion about when certain new foreign direct product rule restrictions take effect and how they apply, a BIS official said this week.
Companies should expect the U.S. government to continue to prioritize enforcement of export controls in the coming months, including by issuing new penalties for export violations, said Matthew Axelrod, the Bureau of Industry and Security’s top export enforcement official. He also revealed that BIS is using a new tool to better screen foreign parties listed on license applications, and he said a recent shift in how the agency uses metrics has allowed it to devote more attention to cases involving the most sensitive technology.
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed temporary denial orders for two Russian airlines that it said continue to illegally operate aircraft on flights into and out of Russia. The agency renewed denial orders for Siberian Airlines and Nordwind Airlines for one year from Dec. 6, saying they continue to "act in blatant disregard for U.S. export controls and the terms of previously issued TDOs," including by operating flights between Russia and Thailand, China, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. BIS last renewed the orders in December 2023 (see 2312130011).
The latest U.S. semiconductor-related export restrictions represent a strengthening of controls on China along with a “massive” expansion of foreign direct product rule restrictions, but they also include some head-scratching loopholes that chip firms will exploit, semiconductor policy researchers said this week.
Although President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle the federal bureaucracy in Washington, a key architect of recent DOJ export control and sanctions initiatives believes those efforts will echo through the next administration.
An Indian national violated U.S. export controls by lying on at least one export application for dual-use aerospace technology, telling the government the item would be exported to India when he actually planned to send it to Russia, according to a DOJ indictment unsealed last week and the sworn affidavit of a Bureau of Industry and Security special agent.
A New York City-based electronics store was fined $5.4 million by CBP and ordered to forfeit more than $460,000 after it allegedly gave false export information to a freight forwarder and breached record-keeping rules, the Bureau of Industry and Security said last week.