The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published an interim final rule significantly reducing licensing requirements for Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) to foster defense trade and technological innovation. BIS is removing Commerce Control List (CCL) license requirements to allow Commerce-controlled military items, missile technology-related items, and hot section engine-related items to be exported or reexported to Australia and the UK without a license. Similar relaxation by the State Department on ITAR controlled technology can be expected "over the course of the next 120 days," according to a statement.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Department of Commerce is announcing its recruitment of candidates to serve on one of its six Technical Advisory Committees (“TACs”). TAC …
The United States will publish a list of advanced Chinese chipmaking factories barred from receiving key tools, Reuters reported Thursday, citing three separate sources. The list could be released in the next couple of months, according to the report..
BIS has published corrections and amendments to the October 25 2023 Semicinductor and Advanced Computing Rules. This rule corrects inadvertent errors in those rules and makes additional clarifications for the two rules. China has expressed strong opposition to the latest U.S. revised rules on semiconductor export rules, saying that it will disrupt the global semiconductor market as well as cooperation between enterprises.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security 2024 Update Conference kicked off Wednesday to a full house in Washington, with over 1,100 attendees registered and many breakout sessions extended to overflow rooms with video feeds. While Commerce Secretary Gina Raimonda was unable to attend in person, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez greeted attendees with a recap of the work undertaken since the last conference in 2022, and insights on where things are headed.
In this final rule, persons blocked under fourteen OFAC sanctions programs will be subject to stringent export controls under the EAR. Each program is listed below with the corresponding sanctions authority and program code or “identifier,” arranged by thematic program to assist understanding. Related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:
For the first time in history, the Chiefs of Navy for the AUKUS countries will convene at a public forum during the Indian Ocean Defense & Security Show (IODS) in Perth, scheduled from July 24 - 26, 2024. This forum will focus on discussions regarding AUKUS Pillars 1 & 2, including but not limited to the Nuclear Submarine program. Moreover, it will serve as a platform for AUKUS experts to delve into the opportunities emerging as these nations progress.
The House passed H.R. 6602, a technical amendment to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 sponsored by Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA). This bill revises the interagency dispute resolution process for export license applications.
Nothwithstanding a doubled caseload, antiquated systems, and flat budget for the past ten years, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has been keeping pace, Undersecretary for Industry and Security Alan Estevez told a congressional panel Wednesday. "BIS has been asked to do more in an era of strategic competition where economic statecraft is increasingly central to U.S. interests and strategy. We have risen to every challenge that we have been asked to take on."
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released a final rule to impose additional restrictions under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) on persons identified under fourteen sanctions programs, on the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List) maintained by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). “Today’s action will further our already strong coordination with the Treasury Department to prevent foreign actors from obtaining the items and financing they seek to conduct activities that threaten U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) joined Rep. John James (R-MI) to introduce the Enhance Cooperation Against Terrorism Act. This legislation will help improve security cooperation between countries in the Middle East and North Africa region by expediting congressional review of arms sales to U.S. partners and allies
BIS amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to apply more restrictive treatment to exports and reexports to, and transfers (in-country) within, Nicaragua of items subject to the EAR. This rule builds on BIS’s prior actions, such as the addition of the Nicaraguan National Police to the Entity List on March 28, 2023, and advances the U.S. Government’s efforts to restrict the availability of items subject to the EAR to Nicaragua’s military and security services. This action is consistent with the State Department’s addition of Nicaragua to the list of countries that are subject to a U.S. arms embargo under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to clarify controls on radiation hardened integrated circuits, including controls on computer and telecommunications equipment incorporating such radiation hardened integrated circuits.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco delivered remarks on "the Promise and Peril of AI," at Oxford University February 14, calling an "inflection point with AI." Claiming that "AI is the ultimate disruptive technology," she vowed that the Distruptive Technology Strike Force established last year to coordinate export control activities, will place AI at the "very top" of its enforcement priority list.
The Departments of Justice, Commerce, and Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, have issued a Tri-Seal Compliance Note: Obligations of foreign-based persons to comply with U.S. sanctions and export control laws. The Note highlights the applicability of U.S. sanctions and export control laws to persons and entities located abroad, as well as the enforcement mechanisms that are available for the U.S. government to hold non-U.S. persons accountable for violations of such laws, including criminal prosecution.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Department of Justice has published two notices for firearms dealers. The first reviews form 9, for approval to export. The second governs reporting of certain long gun sales in southern border states.
The Boeing Company will make three $9 million payments to the government to settle a pattern of material violations of export control law, including unauthorized exports of USML controlled technical data, unauthorized exports of defense articles, and Unauthorized Exports Resulting from Fabricated Permanent Export Licenses. The company agreed to name a Designated Official to head a review of the firms compliance and to spend at least $24 million on consultants, auditors and training.
Nearly $500,000 of forfeited proceeds of an illicit machine tool sale to Russian buyers will be used to support a drone-based program to assess the damage Russian aggression has done to Ukraine’s electrical distribution and transmission infrastructure. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Estonian Secretary General Tõnis Saar announced the transfer at the Munich Security Conference Saturday Feb 17.
A Montreal woman pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy for her role in a multimillion-dollar scheme to send components used in unnamed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and guided missile systems and other weapons to sanctioned entities in Russia. Last October, a criminal complaint was unsealed, and a Brooklyn, New York, resident and two Canadian nationals were arrested in connection with a global procurement scheme in which the defendants used two corporate entities registered in Brooklyn to unlawfully source and purchase dual-use electronics on behalf of end-users in Russia, including companies affiliated with the Russian military.
A 747 Boeing Freighter was flown to Miami from Buenos Aires by U.S. Marshalls in the latest chapter of the Mahan Air Saga. Mahan, a sanctioned Iranian airline is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). On Oct. 20, 2022, in support of its ongoing criminal investigation, the United States filed a civil forfeiture complaint alleging that the aircraft’s transfer from Mahan Air to Empresa de Transporte Aéreocargo del Sur, S.A. (EMTRASUR), a Venezuelan cargo airline and subsidiary of a Venezuelan state-owned company, violated U.S. export control laws.