The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls released its annual report to Congress on certain controlled defense exports. The report, released June 30, details the aggregate value and quantity of defense items and services authorized to each foreign country and international organization during FY 2021.

The Bureau of Industry and Security plans to add more attorneys to its chief counsel's office to keep pace with its Russia-related export controls, a Commerce Department official said during the BIS annual update conference last week. The counsel has about 15 lawyers but expects to add more “in the coming months,” said the official, speaking on background as part of a conference policy for career staff. “It really has been unprecedented times over the past six months,” the official said, adding that the counsel’s office wants “to make sure that we can match” the rest of the agency “as the amount and intensity of work continues.”

The Bureau of Industry and Security is still reviewing export controls on facial recognition software, surveillance-related products and other goods controlled for crime-control reasons, but it may move forward on the rule soon, a Commerce Department official said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has received very few license applications and questions related to its cybersecurity export control rule since it took effect in March (see 2110200036 and 2201110025) but is open to issuing more guidance to industry if needed (see 2205050023), a Commerce Department official said during the BIS annual update conference last week.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has been receiving “a lot” of questions about what is considered a “major component” under the agency’s foreign direct product rule, a Commerce Department official said. Some exporters have asked BIS to issue a list of examples of major components for the purposes of the FDP rule, the official said, which restricts certain foreign-produced items when they are produced by a plant or by a “major component” of a plant that is a direct product of certain U.S. technology or software.

The Bureau of Industry and Security doesn’t have export control officers in Russia but has other means to monitor violations and to assess license applications, said Matthew Axelrod, the agency’s top export enforcement official. Although BIS can’t conduct end-use checks in the country, it can still turn to “open source reporting” and other intelligence when considering a license, Axelrod said. “We have a lot of different tools at our disposal to help inform the licensing process,” he said during a June 29 news conference.

Export controls may not stop all illegal shipments, but that doesn’t mean the U.S. and others should not work to improve cooperation and coordination, experts agreed during a June 27 Brookings Institution panel.

The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit on June 23 introduced new export restrictions against Russia. The restrictions prohibit the "export, supply and delivery, making available and transfer" of goods and technology used for internal repression, relating to biological and chemical weapons and maritime, as well as additional oil refining and critical industry. Further restrictions include bans on the export of jet fuel and fuel additives, sterling or EU-denominated banknotes and prohibitions on the import, acquisition or supply and delivery of revenue-generating goods that originate in or are consigned from Russia.

Companies with Chinese business ties should consider how they would be affected if the U.S. began imposing Russia-style export controls against China, said Crowell & Moring trade lawyer Jeff Snyder. Speaking during a June 21 webinar hosted by the firm, Snyder said his practice has begun conducting exercises to imagine how potential China-related controls would affect a business’ operations, which can help companies assess their risk exposure and make preemptive plans so they aren’t caught off-guard by trade disruptions.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo discussed increasing export control collaboration with South Korea in an introductory meeting this week with South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin. Raimondo “expressed her interest in continued coordination” with South Korea on the export restrictions, Commerce said, which have been imposed on many areas of Russia’s economy, including its military, technology and luxury goods sectors. Commerce in March added South Korea to the list of countries that have imposed similar export controls against Russia and are excluded from certain license requirements under the U.S.’s Russia-related foreign direct product rules (see 2203040075).