The Commerce Department issued a correction to its final rule that revised the country groups for Russia and Yemen under the Export Administration Regulations (see 2002210031), the agency said in a notice. The notice corrects the rule to “provide an instruction” to remove Yemen from Country Group B, which was the intention of the rule.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 24-28 in case you missed them.
A lawsuit filed by 20 states to block the transfer of export controls over firearms from the State Department to the Commerce Department is unfounded, the State Department said, adding that the states don’t understand the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations. The “plaintiffs are simply wrong,” the State Department said in a Feb. 24 court filing. “Several basic misunderstandings about how the respective regimes operate negate the Plaintiffs’ claims and any basis for preliminary injunctive relief.”
U.S. administration officials will meet with the European Union and Japan next month to lobby for increased scrutiny of transactions involving sensitive technologies, a top Treasury Department official said. The meetings will also feature discussions of recent U.S. reforms to foreign direct investment screening, said Thomas Feddo, Treasury’s assistant secretary of investment security, and come as the U.S. begins to implement those reforms as part of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (see 2001140060). Feddo spoke during a Feb. 26 event hosted by the Asia Society.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security issued guidance Feb. 25 clarifying that the virus causing the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, SARS-CoV-2, will continue to be classified under the Export Control Classification Number EAR99, meaning export licenses are generally not required for exports of the virus. BIS said it issued the guidance in response to a report recently published by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, which classified the virus, SARS-CoV-2, as belonging to a species similar to SARS-CoV, a virus controlled under the Export Administration Regulations under ECCN 1C351.a.46. But because SARS-CoV-2 is a “genetically distinct virus,” “causes a clinically distinct disease” and the “specifics of the disease … are still being investigated,” BIS said it considers SARS-CoV-2 to be “distinct” from SARS-CoV, adding that it does not yet warrant increased controls. BIS did warn, however, that some end-users, end-uses and destination countries may require a license for exports of EAR99 items, and exporters “should continue to screen all requests in accordance” with the Export Administration Regulations.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security will send an information collection proposal to the Office of Management and Budget relating to foreign availability procedures, according to a notice published in the Federal Register. The information collection is used by Congress and industry to make foreign availability determinations under the Export Administration Regulations. Comments are due to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov by March 26.
The Commerce Department is “nowhere near” publishing an export control rule on foundational technologies and is likely not close to releasing its advance notice of proposed rulemaking, Squire Patton Boggs trade lawyer George Grammas said. Commerce management has had a draft of the ANPRM since at least mid-2019, Grammas said. “It doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast,” he said, speaking during a Feb. 20 webinar hosted by Content Enablers. “We don’t seem to be anywhere near seeing a rule on foundational technologies in the near term.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security revised the country groups for Russia and Yemen under the Export Administration Regulations (see 2001090040), BIS said in a notice. The changes increase license restrictions for both countries and are part of a larger effort within BIS that involves a “comprehensive review” of all country groups to better align with the administration's foreign policy concerns. All shipments now requiring a license as a result of this rule that were on dock for loading or aboard a carrier to a port as of Feb. 24 may proceed to their destinations under the previous eligibility, BIS said. Shipments that have not been exported, re-exported or transferred by March 25 will require a license.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 10-14 in case you missed them.
The State Department announced penalties on foreign entities for illegal transfers under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act, the agency said in a notice. The entities transferred items subject to multilateral control lists -- such as the Wassenaar Arrangement -- that contribute to weapons proliferation or missile production. The entities mentioned in the notice include companies based in China, Iraq, Russia and Turkey and are barred from purchasing items controlled on the U.S. Munitions List and by the Arms Export Control Act. In addition, the State Department will suspend any current export licenses used by the companies; State will bar them from receiving new export licenses for any goods subject to the Export Administration Regulations; and government agencies are barred from entering into procurement contracts with them. The measures took effect Feb. 3.