The Bureau of Industry and Security has completed a round of interagency reviews to finalize a set of regulations that in January placed new export controls on certain lab equipment that can be misused by "countries of concern" for military purposes (see 2501150020). The rulemaking, sent for interagency review Sept. 23 and completed Dec. 11, will finalize those revisions to "address the accelerating development and deployment of advanced biotechnology tools contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests," BIS said.
The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has sent a new final rule for interagency review that involves the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and U.S. Munitions List. The rule, sent for review Dec. 9, is titled "International Traffic in Arms Regulations: USML 2025 Supplemental Rule 2." The agency didn't release more information.
The U.S. Export Enforcement Coordination Center, an organization designed to coordinate export enforcement efforts among government agencies, hosted a workshop this week with industry officials, said Director Ivan Arvelo, who's also director of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. They had "thoughtful, candid, and solutions-focused" conversations about "exactly what is needed as we navigate an increasingly complex global trade and technology environment," Arvelo said on LinkedIn.
U.S. and Australian officials voiced support for the AUKUS arrangement in Washington this week and "reaffirmed their commitment" to expanding the use of export control license exemptions by both nations, according to a State Department fact sheet.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls published a "redline" document to highlight recent changes made to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations as a result of the agency’s ITAR reorganization effort. The revised document reflects changes made to the ITAR in light of DDTC’s removal of its arms embargo against Cambodia (see 2511060016) and its continued temporary suspension of restrictions on certain defense exports to Cyprus (see 2509080001). "Those changes are identified in the reorg redline by identifier 'Rev.17,'" DDTC said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed a temporary denial order for Nordwind Airlines after saying the Russian airline continues to illegally operate aircraft on flights into and out of Russia. Nordwind has "engaged in a pattern of repeated, ongoing and/or continuous apparent violations" of the Export Administration Regulations and previous denial orders, BIS said, noting that it has operated several recent flights to and from Russia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The agency renewed the order for one year from Dec. 5.
U.S. semiconductor-related export controls against China have been "incredibly successful," mostly because they have forced Beijing to expend more resources trying to advance its domestic chip industry, argued Stephen Brooks, a professor at Dartmouth College who focuses on economics and security.
The Office of the Federal Register published a correction this week to a Commerce Control List that appeared in the most recent annual revision of the Code of Federal Regulations. It fixes an error in the language that describes certain "materials" controlled in the CCL, including metals and alloys.
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed a temporary denial order for Siberian Airlines after saying the Russian airline continues to illegally operate aircraft on flights into and out of Russia. The airline has acted in "blatant disregard for U.S. export controls and the terms of previously issued" denial orders, BIS said, pointing to several recent flights it has operated to and from Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan. The agency renewed the order for one year from Dec. 3.
The Trump administration has halted plans to sanction a Chinese spy agency and will refrain from imposing any “major new export controls” on China to avoid disrupting the trade truce reached between the two sides in South Korea earlier this year, the Financial Times reported.