ServisMed, a Florida-based distributor of disinfectant pesticides, was ordered to dissolve its business after trying to export unregistered pesticide products in violation of federal insecticide regulations, DOJ said. The company, which was investigated in part by the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Office of Export Enforcement, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.
Dual U.S. and Russian national Vadim Yermolenko was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and ordered to forfeit $75,547, for his role in a scheme to illegally export controlled dual-use and military items to Russia as part of a Moscow-led sanctions evasion scheme. He pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, commit bank fraud and defraud the U.S. (see 2411010047).
President Donald Trump signed into law Aug. 19 a bill that will require an annual report to Congress on certain dual-use license applications, the White House announced.
The more than $140 million U.S. penalty levied on California chip firm Cadence in July (see 2507290026) is the latest signal that companies should prepare for increasingly "aggressive" export control enforcement, especially for violators of technology controls against China, law firms said. One firm said it shows that the government expects companies to provide access to business information located in China -- even if that may violate China’s anti-foreign sanctions laws -- while another firm said it highlights the challenges companies face when determining whether a customer is a front company for a party on the Entity List.
The Census Bureau is updating certain field names in the Automated Export System related to the U.S. Principal Party in Interest address and state of origin, it said in an Aug. 15 email to industry. The agency is changing the name of the “Address of the USPPI” to “Address of Origin” to clarify that the USPPI address “represents the origin of movement, not the address associated with the USPPI [Employer ID Number] or headquarters address,” it said. The change was previewed in a final rule issued by the agency on Aug. 13 (see 2508130022).
The future effectiveness of U.S. export controls will depend on which technologies the government targets, how it collaborates with allies, and how well the U.S. is able to resource the Bureau of Industry and Security, said Navin Girishankar and Matt Borman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Applied Materials, the largest American semiconductor equipment supplier, is expecting a drop in its China sales due to uncertainty around U.S. export controls and its high volume of pending license applications, executives said last week.
President Donald Trump signed a new executive order Aug. 13 aimed at deregulating the commercial space sector, which it said will help make American space launch companies more competitive. The order doesn't explicitly mention the loosening of export or trade restrictions, but it directs the Commerce and Transportation departments, along with other government offices, to create a "streamlined process for authorizing novel space activities (missions not clearly or straightforwardly governed by existing regulatory frameworks) with the goal of enabling American space competitiveness and superiority in new space-based industries."
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., called on the Bureau of Industry and Security Aug. 14 to return China’s Institute of Forensic Science to the BIS Entity List, citing the lab’s "continual and well-documented" human rights abuses.
The export licensing pauses and delays since the Trump administration took over in January are in conflict with the president’s stated goal of boosting American exports and opening new markets for U.S. companies, said Ron Kirk, a former U.S. trade representative.