Kuwait Airways Corp. was fined $700,000 as part of a settlement agreement with the Commerce Department after the corporation violated the Export Administration Regulations through antiboycott violations, Commerce said in an order released this month. The company, based in New Jersey, committed 14 violations of the EAR when it complied with an “unsanctioned foreign boycott” by refusing to accept passengers with Israeli passports. Commerce said it will suspend $100,000 of the fine if Kuwait Airways does not commit another violation of the Export Control Reform Act or of the EAR within the next three years, if it pays the remainder of the fine on time, and if it complies with the terms of the settlement. If the airline does not comply with the settlement, BIS may revoke the airline’s export privileges for one year and revoke the corporation’s current export licenses and exceptions.
As the final regulations for the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act take effect this week, FIRRMA’s definition for critical technologies remains unclear due to a lack of proposed rules by the Commerce Department on emerging and foundational technologies, trade lawyers said.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Jan. 27-31 in case you missed them.
The Commerce Department still does not have a timeline for releasing its next set of controls on emerging technologies and its advance notice of proposed rulemaking for foundational technologies, despite expectations from top officials that both would be published before 2020, a Bureau of Industry and Security official said. “I would have thought that they would be out earlier,” said Hillary Hess, director of BIS’s regulatory policy division, speaking during a Feb. 4 Sensors and Instrumentation Technical Advisory Committee meeting. “I think everybody would like to see them come out, but I’m not sure how long it’s going to take. I’m having trouble getting a bead on it myself.”
Small and medium-sized companies can apply to attend one of the Australian government's free training seminars on U.S. export controls during March in Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, Australia said Jan. 23. The two-day seminars will provide companies with “practical expertise of current best practice” for dealing with technologies controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations, it said. The seminars are open to manufacturers and companies involved in research and development with “immediate intent or actively involved with US technologies subject to these regulations.”
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments on a proposal for an information collection that BIS will submit to the Office of Management and Budget, BIS said in a notice. The information collection involves 10 “miscellaneous” activities described in the Export Administration Regulations relating to the exchange of documents among parties in Commerce Department-controlled export transactions. Comments are due Feb. 28.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued a Jan. 23 guidance on the final rules for the transfer of gun export controls from the State Department to the Commerce Department, including a clarification on license submissions during the transition period. The guidance also clarifies how the rules and transition period affect technical assistance agreements, manufacturing license agreements, reporting requirements, commodity jurisdiction determinations and regulatory oversight responsibilities. The rules -- which were published Jan. 23 and transfer export control authority from the State Department to Commerce for a range of firearms, ammunition and other defense items -- will take effect March 9 (see 2001170030).
The Commerce Department denied export privileges for Marjan Caby after Caby violated the Export Administration Regulations, Commerce said in a Jan. 17 order. The violations stem from a scheme involving a Miami-based company, its manager and its registered agent, whose export privileges were revoked in November for violating the EAR by illegally exporting aircraft parts and equipment to Syrian Arab Airlines (see 1911130043). Caby worked as the “internal auditor” for AW-Tronics/Arrowtronic, the company named in the order, and helped the shipments evade U.S. export controls by directing them to Bulgaria before they were eventually shipped to Syria, Commerce said. Caby’s export privileges were revoked for four years from the date of the order.
The Commerce Department released its final rule for transferring export controls of firearms, ammunition and other defense items from the State Department to Commerce. The rule revises the Export Administration Regulations to transfer items that no longer “warrant control” on the U.S. Munitions List to the Commerce Control List. The rule will be published alongside a final rule from the State Department, which details the changes made to Categories I, II and II of the USML and describes “more precisely” the items that warrant “export or temporary import control” on the USML. The rules, which have been highly anticipated by the firearms industry (see 1908130066), will be published Jan. 23 and take effect March 9.
The Commerce Department is close to publishing a rule that will expand its authority to block shipments of foreign made goods to Huawei, according to a Jan. 14 Reuters report. The rule would lower the U.S.-origin threshold on exports to Huawei to 10 percent, Reuters said, and expand the purview to include “non-technical goods like consumer electronics” and “non-sensitive chips.” Commerce sent the rule to the Office of Management and Budget after an interagency meeting last week, the report said. A top Commerce official recently confirmed the agency was considering a range of expanded restrictions of foreign exports to Huawei, including changes to the Direct Product Rule and a broadened de minimis level (see 1912100033).