Several Republican lawmakers criticized the Biden administration this week for reportedly (see 2108250018) granting export licenses for companies to ship hundreds of millions of dollars worth of auto chips to Huawei. The licenses reportedly were approved within the past several months and authorized only exports of auto chips, which are viewed as less sensitive than other types of semiconductor-related items.
The Bureau of Industry and Security released a final rule to make technical corrections and clarifications (see 2108110010) to a 2020 rule that transferred export control jurisdiction over certain firearms from the State Department to the Commerce Department. The rule, released Aug. 18 and effective Sept. 20, introduced changes to make the requirements “easier to understand” and “interpreted consistently,” BIS said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a U.S. semiconductor manufacturer $469,060 for working with others to export chip-making equipment to Chinese companies on the U.S. Entity List, BIS said in an Aug. 16 order. The company, California-based Dynatex International, violated the Export Administration Regulations because it didn’t obtain the required BIS license before shipping the equipment. Although BIS said Dynatex knew it was shipping items to blacklisted companies, the agency substantially reduced the fine as part of a settlement agreement.
Mi-Yong Kim, former chair of the Operating Committee for Export Administration at the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, joined Bass Berry as counsel in its Washington, D.C.-based International Trade Practice, the firm announced Aug. 10. Kim worked at Commerce for over 18 years, nearly 10 of them as a senior attorney with the Office of Chief Counsel for Industry and Security. Kim will work on national security issues, including matters involving the Export Administration Regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the firm said.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, is asking the Bureau of Industry and Security for information on Huawei export licenses. Wicker said BIS recently held an “informal briefing” with Wicker’s staff in which they withheld certain licensing information “based on confidentiality concerns,” but Wicker believes the information should have been provided. “The information requested neither focused on any particular company's compliance nor could have resulted in a breach of confidentiality for a company under investigation,” the senator said in an Aug. 11 letter to BIS.
The Bureau of Industry and Security and the Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a fact sheet this week highlighting the various exemptions and authorizations available for companies, people and exporters providing telecommunications goods and services to Cuba. The five-page guidance covers OFAC general licenses and BIS license exceptions and comes as the Biden administration tries to increase sanctions pressure on the Cuban government for its crackdown on pro-democracy protests in recent weeks (see 2107300063).
The State Department announced penalties on eight foreign entities and their subsidies for illegal transfers under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act, an Aug. 9 notice said. The agency said the entities transferred items subject to multilateral control lists that contribute to weapons proliferation or missile production. The State Department barred them from purchasing items controlled on the U.S. Munitions List and by the Arms Export Control Act and will suspend any current export licenses used by the entities. The agency will also bar them from receiving new export licenses for any goods subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The restrictions will remain in place for two years from the July 29 effective date.
A California electronics company was fined $6.6 million by the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls after it illegally exported technical data and software to more than 15 countries, including China, DDTC said Aug. 9. DDTC said Keysight Technologies, which makes electronic test and measurement equipment and software, committed 24 violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, including unauthorized exports while the companies still had an outstanding commodity jurisdiction request pending with the State Department.
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a proposed rule for interagency review that would impose export controls on certain additive manufacturing equipment used to “print energetic materials and related software and technology.” The rule, received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs July 23, would revise the Commerce Control List to classify the equipment as an emerging technology as BIS seeks to propose the equipment for multilateral control at the Wassenaar Arrangement. BIS said Export Administration Regulations define energetic materials as “substances or mixtures that react chemically to release the energy required for their intended application,” and subclasses include explosives, pyrotechnics and propellants. The rule will request public comments so the scope of the proposed controls “will be effective and appropriate,” BIS said.
Yi-Chi Shih, a Hollywood Hills, California, resident, was sentenced to over five years in prison for his role in a scheme to illegally ship integrated circuits with military applications to China, the Department of Justice said July 22. Shih was convicted of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Regulations and fined more than $600,000 in fines and restitution to the IRS (see 1907020071).