The State Department is seeking public comments on an information collection related to Part 130 of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which deals with political contributions, fees and commissions relating to sales of defense articles and services. Under the ITAR, defense exporters shipping certain goods worth more than $500,000 to a foreign armed service, international organization or others must notify the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls about certain political contributions or fees associated with the sale, the agency said. Comments are due Oct. 27.
A bill to repeal a U.S. economic sanctions law targeting Syria was among the topics Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., discussed with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during a visit to the Middle Eastern country, Shaheen's office said Aug. 25.
A new law that will require the Bureau of Industry and Security to provide Congress with annual reports on certain export licensing information could lead to more "scrutiny" over BIS licensing activity, including through congressional hearings, Akin said in a client alert this week. The firm also said it could increase congressional requests to certain exporters or give rise to more legislation "regarding the scope of controls, parties to be added" to the Entity List or the Military End User List, or "requests for revocation of licenses."
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The head of the House Select Committee on China urged the Trump administration Aug. 25 to adopt a new framework for restricting computing chip exports to China, saying placing certain technical limits on such sales would be a more effective way to keep Beijing’s AI capabilities in check.
The State Department is finalizing changes from a January rule that will add and remove items on the U.S. Munitions List and clarify the control scope of others. It said some new items should be subject to export controls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, while others “no longer warrant inclusion” or will soon be moved to the Commerce Department’s Commerce Control List. The agency will also create a new license exemption for underwater drones and tweak other portions of the January rule, but it declined to make multiple changes requested by exporters.
President Donald Trump threatened to impose export controls on technology and semiconductors if countries have digital policies he dislikes.
Ian Richardson, who was named the first chief counsel for corporate enforcement at DOJ’s National Security Division in 2023 (see 2309120017), left the government this month to join Paul Weiss as a lawyer working on national security issues, he announced on LinkedIn. Richardson was most recently chief counsel of DOJ’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
Rachel Alpert has left her role as chief counsel for the Office of Foreign Assets Control, she announced on LinkedIn. She was named to the position in October 2023 (see 2310250061).
The U.N. Security Council revised five entries under its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list. The changes include updated identifying information, location information and other status updated for Ibrahim Ali Abu Bakr Tantoush; Al-Azhar Ben Khalifa Ben Ahmed Rouine; Sulaiman Jassem Sulaiman Ali Abo Ghaith; Shafi Sultan Mohammed al-Ajmi; and Gulmurod Khalimov