The Commerce Department will hold a public webinar on the agency’s proposed “guardrails” for recipients of Chips Act funding, which could restrict how recipients use the funding in certain countries and align the guardrails with export restrictions (see 2303210026 and 2303220010). The March 30 webinar will be hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Chips Program Office, which will “review the national security measures included in the Chips and Science Act and the additional details and definitions outlined in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.” Participants must register. The presentation recording and transcript will be posted on the Chips for America website after the event.
The EU is “assessing” whether to create an outbound investment screening regime, which could help it address “gaps” in its dual-use export controls, Valdis Dombrovskis, the bloc’s top trade official, told the European Parliament this week. “We're currently at the exploratory stage,” he said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is hoping its new Disruptive Technology Strike Force leads to more investigations of export control violations, faster prosecutions and more criminal enforcement actions, said John Sonderman, director of the BIS Office of Export Enforcement. The agency also is looking to clamp down on U.S.-origin items ending up in Iranian drones, said Kevin Kurland of OEE, warning that companies should make sure they’re complying with the new Iran Foreign Direct Product Rule issued last month.
The Commerce Department published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that seeks public comments on potential “guardrails” for recipients of Chips Act funding. Comments on the rule, which would also align those funding restrictions with certain export controls, are due May 22. Commerce released the rule earlier this week (see 2303210026).
New frequently asked questions on the Bureau of Industry and Security's October China chip controls are “almost through their clearance process,” Sharron Cook, a BIS official, said during a Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting this week. “Those should be up shortly,” she said.
The Commerce Department this week released proposed “guardrails” for recipients of Chips Act funding, which could restrict how the funding is used in certain countries and align the guardrails with export restrictions. The proposed rule would block funding recipients from pursuing certain chip investments in China and other “foreign countries of concern,” restrict them from participating in certain research or technology licensing efforts with those countries, prevent the funding from being provided to companies on the Entity List and more, Commerce said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is preparing to publish a proposed rule that would expand the agency’s restrictions on certain activities that support foreign military, security or intelligence services. The rule, expected next week, would implement a provision in the FY 2023 defense spending bill that one lawmaker hailed as the “largest expansion of presidential export control authority in several years” (see 2212210032).
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Taiwan chip exports to China and Hong Kong decreased for a fourth consecutive month in February and fell 31.3% compared with the same period last year, the worst decline since 2009, Bloomberg reported March 19. The report said China’s market share of Taiwanese integrated circuit exports dropped to the lowest level since February 2019, and Taiwan’s global chip exports also decreased 17.3% in February compared with the same period a year ago. Exports to the U.S., however, increased 22.3%. The U.S. recently introduced a new set of export controls on semiconductor-related items and activities destined for or involving China (see 2210070049).
The Census Bureau and CBP this week announced new reporting requirements for exporters sending certain chip-related items to China under a temporary general license or “authorization letter” from the Bureau of Industry and Security. Electronic filers of export information must now use one of Census’ two new license codes in the Automated Export System when using a BIS authorization that exempts them from certain licensing requirements under the agency’s sweeping China chip controls released in October (see 2210070049).