The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on a new license exception to authorize certain exports of medical devices to Russia, a Commerce Department official said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security hasn't yet made a decision on whether to move forward with export controls on automated peptide synthesizers after proposing the restrictions in April last year (see 2304190060), a Commerce Department official said this week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is still developing a proposed rule to prevent sophisticated hacking tools and expertise from being exported to foreign governments that spy on their own citizens, a Commerce Department official said March 27.
The head of the Bureau of Industry and Security this week called on companies to double down on their export compliance and due diligence efforts, saying the agency is reaching out to exporters to make sure they’re catching red flags and monitoring for possible export control evasion.
Four Republican House members led by Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Texas have asked the Commerce and State departments to describe the measures they are considering to counteract what appears to be increasing collaboration between China and Iran on military drone development and distribution.
The Census Bureau this week alerted export filers about two new license codes in the Automated Export System for License Exception Notified Advanced Computing (NAC), the exception introduced last year by the Bureau of Industry and Security for certain exports of semiconductors that fall just below the agency’s most recently updated chip control parameters (see 2311200042 and 2401030053). Companies using the license exception and exporting certain chips must submit notifications to BIS with data about the chip, including its total processing performance, the name of the exporter and other parties to the transactions, and the volume and value of the shipment.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week suspended the export privileges of one person for illegally providing services to Iran and two people for illegal weapons shipments to Mexico.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding new export license requirements for people and entities designated under certain Treasury Department sanctions programs, a move it said will strengthen U.S. financial blocking measures and act as a “backstop” for activities that those restrictions don’t cover.
The U.S. announced new export controls against Nicaragua this week in response to human rights abuses by the country's government and its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The measures, outlined in two final rules effective March 15, will put in place stronger Commerce Department export licensing requirements for Nicaragua and add the country to a list of nations maintained by the State Department that generally don’t receive license approvals for controlled defense items.
Although entities on the Treasury and Defense departments’ Chinese military company lists aren't necessarily subject to export controls, it's still very risky to do certain business with them, former Bureau of Industry and Security officials said this week. They said they would advise companies to treat those listed entities as prohibited Chinese military end-users unless they can prove otherwise.