Australian export compliance officers are wary about a new proposed International Traffic in Arms Regulation exemption for defense trade with the U.S., which is causing some compliance confusion and could lead to a host of “operational challenges” for companies subject to trade regulations, said Eva Galfi, a consultant for International Trade Advisors in Australia. She said the new exemption, along with a similar rule by the Commerce Department to reduce certain license requirements for exports to Australia and the U.K., may also increase the risk of large fines for violations.
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Some technology companies and industry groups were supportive of an ongoing effort by the Bureau of Industry’s Security to stop advanced artificial intelligence models from being used by dangerous end-users, but many also said the agency’s proposed know-your-customer regulations for U.S. cloud service providers should be tweaked or rewritten. Others said the new KYC rules could place too heavy a burden on cloud service providers and could undermine trust in American providers.
Citing national security concerns, President Joe Biden issued an order May 13 prohibiting China’s MineOne from continuing to operate a cryptocurrency mine near Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The U.S. should form a new export control strategy to better pinpoint the restrictions that will impose the highest costs on China, with a particular focus on technologies where the U.S. and its allies dominate the global market, researchers said. They also said the U.S. should create a new agency or government position to coordinate export controls, sanctions and other economic statecraft tools against China and other adversaries.
A bipartisan group of four House members, including Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, introduced a bill last week that they said would help the Bureau of Industry and Security control exports of artificial intelligence systems and other new national security-related technologies.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a new advisory this week to alert industry about the ways Iran-backed terrorist organizations are illegally circumventing or using the international financial system to raise, move and spend money. The advisory also includes a list of red flags to help banks and other financial institutions catch suspicious activity that may be linked to those groups.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week added 37 Chinese technology companies, manufacturing firms, research institutions and others to the Entity List for trying to acquire U.S.-export controlled items for China’s military or quantum technology capabilities, shipping controlled items to Russia, or for their ties to a “High Altitude Balloon” that the U.S. shot down last year.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control soon will make a range of changes to its reporting, procedures and penalties regulations, including one that will require electronic-only filings of certain documents and others that will add or clarify reporting requirements for certain blocked property or rejected transactions. The agency also clarified its definitions for “transaction” and “U.S. persons” after public commenters told OFAC they were unclear, clarified the types of information that must be reported for rejected transitions, and more.
The Biden administration, which announced in August 2023 that it would develop restrictions on outbound investment in China (see 2308090066), expects to finalize the new regulations by the end of calendar year 2024, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said May 8.