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 U.S. government appears to be focusing more heavily on adding entities to the Pentagon’s Chinese military company list, and Chinese companies are growing increasingly concerned about being added, lawyers said.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, said Dec. 11 the U.S. should designate Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., this week criticized the Trump administration’s decision to suspend the Bureau of Industry and Security's 50% rule (see 2510300024) and allow exports of Nvidia H200 chips to China, suggesting the U.S. is sacrificing national security for improved trade relations with China.
The U.S. announced charges against a group of business owners, their companies and associates for illegally exporting advanced Nvidia chips to China the same day President Donald Trump said he plans to ease export controls over those exact chips.
Reps. Max Miller, R-Ohio, and Jefferson Shreve, R-Ind., introduced a bill Dec. 1 that would broaden the authority of the Bureau of Industry and Security to place companies on its Entity List.
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.
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.
Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, and Del. James Moylan, R-Guam, announced Dec. 3 that they have introduced a bill aimed at protecting whistleblowers who report defense export control violations.