The Nuclear Regulatory Commission revised its export controls over “reprocessing plant components” to align with recent changes made by the multilateral Nuclear Suppliers Group, the NRC said in a July 27 final rule. The rule specifically conforms the NRC’s export controls over its “Illustrative List of Reprocessing Plant Components” with changes recently made to the NSG’s guidelines for nuclear transfers. “The NRC has determined that these changes are consistent with current U.S. policy, and will pose no unreasonable risk to the public health and safety or to the common defense and security of the United States,” the agency said. The changes include revisions to the text for “Irradiated fuel element chopping machines” and “dissolvers.”
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.
The U.S. should pursue more cooperation around multilateral export controls to address the supply chain risks within the semiconductor industry, Bureau of Industry and Security Senior Adviser Sahar Hafeez told the Information Technology Industry Council. Hafeez, speaking to ITI along with technology policy officials from the European Union and South Korea during a virtual panel last week, also stressed the importance of domestic chip investment.
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A Commerce Department technical advisory committee is considering proposing an exception for U.S. deemed export regulations to allow U.S. businesses to better compete with foreign companies. The potential exception, which hasn’t been finalized but was discussed during a July 27 meeting of the Sensors and Instrumentation Technical Advisory Committee, would authorize certain deemed exports to company employees, contractors or interns if the items are for “internal company use.” Committee members said the exception wouldn’t be eligible for deemed exports to foreign nationals from Country Groups E:1 and E:2, which includes Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria.
Arif Ugur, a Turkish national formerly living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was indicted July 21 for his role in illegally shipping defense technical data to Turkey for the production of U.S. military parts, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a news release. Ugur's actions were found to have violated the Arms Export Control Act. The Department of Defense found that some goods were substandard and not fit for use by the U.S. military, the release said. As sole managing officer of the Anatolia Group, Ugur, beginning in 2015 acquired various DOD contracts to provide the military with machine parts and hardware items, the Department of Justice alleged. The contracts required that the parts be manufactured in the U.S. Ugur claimed Anatolia made its parts stateside, when it actually made them in Turkey, Justice said. Ugur then oversaw the shipment of DOD technical data to Anatolia's facilities in Turkey -- a move that required an export license seeing as they were subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulation and the United States Munitions List. He did not acquire these licenses, violating the Arms Export Control Act, Justice said.
Changi Esquel Textile (CJE), a Hong Kong-based apparel company and part of the Esquel group of companies, filed for a preliminary injunction on July 19 against its placement on the Commerce Department's Entity List. The company is seeking the injunction even though it expects an announcement soon on potential changes to its status on the list, it said. "The government has informed Plaintiffs that there will likely be a development regarding CJE’s continued Entity List designation by August 1," the company said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a New York online money transmitter and provider more than $1.4 million for violating U.S. sanctions on the Crimea region of Ukraine, Iran, Sudan and Syria. Payoneer came to a settlement agreement with OFAC after illegally processing more than 2,000 payments for parties in sanctioned countries, OFAC said in a July notice. The fine was OFAC’s third highest this year.
Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Eloina Rodriguez Gomez will remain under the European Union's Venezuela sanctions regime after the European Union General Court rejected her application to annul the listings, a July 14 judgment said. The court said the European Council did not err in its finding that Rodriguez undermined democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela and that even if she no longer holds this position, she “remained linked to the regime.” This connection is enough to maintain the sanctions, the court said.
China announced retaliatory sanctions on six U.S. people and one entity in response to the U.S.'s Hong Kong Business Advisory and sanctions on Hong Kong officials (see 2107160030), China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said July 23. The sanctions target Wilbur Ross, former secretary of commerce; Carolyn Bartholomew, chair of the U.S.-China Economic Security and Review Commission; Jonathan Stivers, former staff director of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China; DoYun Kim of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs; Adam King, senior program manager of the International Republican Institute; and Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch. China also sanctioned the Hong Kong Democracy Council. China said the U.S.'s updated Hong Kong business advisory was created to "groundlessly smear Hong Kong's business environment."