The U.S. should impose new chip-related export controls on China in response to Beijing’s new rules last week that will restrict overseas exports if they contain certain levels of Chinese-origin material (see 2510090021), a former senior U.S. national security official said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added 29 entities to the Entity List, including three addresses, for either helping to illegally supply U.S.-origin items to Iran or for their ties to Iranian procurement networks, BIS said in a final rule released and effective Oct. 8. BIS said the entities supplied or diverted aircraft parts, drone components, electronic items and other products to Iran, including to Iranian companies already on the Entity List or the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List.
A new message on the Bureau of Industry and Security's website alerts exporters that the agency is prioritizing reviews of urgent license applications during the government shutdown, and it provides instructions on how to request expedited reviews.
Processing of most export license applications, as well as sanctions licenses, will pause during the government shutdown that began Oct. 1, although export enforcement operations and national security-related investigations will continue, the Commerce, State and Treasury departments said this week.
Steven Emme, former chief strategy officer for the Bureau of Industry and Security, has joined Akin as an international trade partner, the firm announced. Emme worked multiple stints at the Commerce Department since 2007, including as BIS chief strategy officer beginning in 2023, before leaving earlier this year. His practice will focus on international trade and national security, including issues related to U.S. export control and sanctions regulations.
China's Ministry of Commerce this week criticized the Bureau of Industry and Security's new rule that introduced a 50% ownership threshold rule for the Entity List and Military End-User List (see 2509290017), saying the measure is "extremely egregious," "severely" damages the rights of affected companies and undermines global supply chains.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is rolling back a Biden-era interim final rule that increased restrictions on firearms exports, the agency said in a final rule effective Sept. 30. BIS said it decided that the rule should be “rescinded in its entirety” after hearing from U.S. firearms manufacturers that the controls “would cost them hundreds of millions of dollars per year in lost sales.”
China on Sept. 25 added three U.S. companies to its Unreliable Entity List for arms sales to Taiwan and three others to its Export Control List because they “endanger” Chinese national security, the Ministry of Commerce said.
The Commerce Department’s spring 2025 regulatory agenda for the Census Bureau includes a new mention of a proposed rule that could require exporters to report the country of origin for certain foreign-produced goods. Census said it will propose a new conditional data element for “country of origin” when the foreign indicator is selected in the Electronic Export Information filed in the Automated Export System. The rule also will propose “remedial changes” to the Foreign Trade Regulations to “improve clarity and to correct errors.” Census had hoped to issue the rule in July. The agency has been studying alternative ways to collect the country of origin information after receiving significant pushback from companies and trade groups that said a new reporting requirement would lead to costly compliance challenges (see 2203160026, 2301230008, 2309130002 and 2403270056).
The Bureau of Industry and Security has removed certain export restrictions from aircraft belonging to Belavia, the state-owned flagship carrier of Belarus, as part of sanctions relief that the Trump administration has offered to the country in recent days.