Licensing

BIS Update Conference Standing Room Only 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 …

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.

In two separate cases out of U.S. Attorneys’ Offices on opposite coasts, several individuals are charged – one of whom was arrested yesterday – in connection with sophisticated schemes to transfer sensitive technology, goods, and information for the benefit of hostile foreign adversaries, in violation of U.S. law. In the Eastern District of New York, a fugitive father and son team of Iranian nationals are charged with conspiring to export equipment used in the aerospace industry to the Government of Iran, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), in connection with an alleged conspiracy to illegally export U.S. goods and technology without the required licenses. In the Central District of California, a naturalized chinese was arrested for allegedly stealing trade secrets developed for use by the U.S. government to detect nuclear missile launches and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles.

A naturalized Chinese was arrested for allegedly stealing trade secrets developed for use by the U.S. government to detect nuclear missile launches and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. Chenguang Gong, 57, of San Jose,is charged in a criminal complaint with theft of trade secrets. For least eight years prior to his arrest, Gong participated in PRC Government-sponsored talent programs. Gong transferred more than 3,600 files from HRL Laboratories, a research and development company owned by The Boeing Company to personal storage devices during his brief tenure with the company last year. Gong worked for HRL from January through April 2023.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has announced the creation of the U.S. AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), which will unite AI creators and users, academics, government and industry researchers, and civil society organizations in support of the development and deployment of safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI). The consortium will be housed under the U.S. AI Safety Institute (USAISI) and will contribute to priority actions outlined in President Biden’s Executive Order, including developing guidelines for red-teaming, capability evaluations, risk management, safety and security, and watermarking synthetic content.

The proposed rule would amend the Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) regulation by providing administrative changes to well-established standards and procedures. This proposed rule would: clarify existing standards and procedures by which BIS may provide Special Priorities Assistance (SPA); revise Schedule I to provide transparency and differentiation between other departments’ priorities jurisdiction and the Department of Commerce’s jurisdiction; and provide technical edits to reflect certain non-substantive updates since the DPAS regulation was last amended in 2014, including providing updated contact information, legal citations, and definitions.

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