The Bureau of Industry and Security’s lack of an official replacement regulation for the Biden-era AI diffusion rule is causing significant uncertainty for companies working in the semiconductor sector, industry officials said this week. Although BIS has said it doesn’t plan to enforce the rule, at least one consultant said she’s not yet comfortable advising clients to ignore those restrictions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is still discussing how it wants to craft its replacement to the Biden-era AI diffusion rule, an agency official said, as well as preparing to finalize recent rules that reduced licensing requirements for exports of certain space-related items and proposed to simplify the License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization. The official also said the Trump administration is considering tweaks to export licensing, acknowledging that applications are taking longer than usual.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is drafting a new regulation that could create a 50%-ownership threshold rule for parties on the Entity List, a BIS official said this week.
The U.S. is willing to lift export controls over certain semiconductors in exchange for China approving exports of rare earths and other critical minerals, a senior Trump administration official said June 9.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed June 5 that the Commerce Department is reviewing a Biden administration interim final rule that increased restrictions on firearms exports.
A law firm said May 23 that the U.S. was failing to provide documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act partly because it was relying on a “novelly broad” interpretation of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (Husch Blackwell v. Department of Commerce, D.D.C. # 1:24-02733).
The recent departure of many career employees at the Bureau of Industry and Security and other government agencies hasn’t necessarily translated into less export control and sanctions enforcement activity, lawyers said last week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is suspending and revoking existing export licenses for a range of items destined to China, including chip-related design software and civil aviation items, two people familiar with the matter said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is aiming to roll back a Biden-era interim final rule that increased restrictions on firearms exports, two people familiar with the matter said.
Although the Trump administration relaxed a range of sanctions against Syria last week, existing export controls still present risks for people and companies carrying out transactions with the country, law firms said this week.