The Bureau of Industry and Security is expanding the scope of its Russia/Belarus-related Foreign-Direct Product rule and adding new export controls on certain computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools-related software, the agency said last week. The FDP rule changes, effective Aug. 27, allow BIS to “more aggressively target” third-country companies procuring controlled goods that are indirectly sent to Russia, BIS said, while the CNC machine tool controls, effective Sept. 16, will prevent those tools in Russia and Belarus from receiving certain software updates.
Nearly a quarter of the 123 new entries the Bureau of Industry and Security will add to its Entity List this week are Chinese suppliers that the agency named in private red-flag letters to U.S. companies earlier this year.
Risk advisory firm Kharon said it has recently identified “numerous cases” of European companies directly and indirectly sending dual-use items to Russia, including through logistics firms based in the Baltic region and the United Arab Emirates.
Latvia citizen Oleg Chistyakov appeared in a U.S. court Aug. 21 after being extradited from Latvia to face charges that he violated U.S. export controls by shipping "sophisticated avionics equipment" to Russian companies, DOJ announced.
A new law aimed at cutting off funding for Hamas requires the Biden administration to submit a key report to Congress by Oct. 21, according to a spokesperson for Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., who proposed the legislation.
A bipartisan group of five senators and two House members unveiled a new bill Aug. 22 that would create “democratic benchmarks” to guide the removal of sanctions on Venezuela.
The Census Bureau this week alerted export filers about a name change to a license code in the Automated Export System that reflects a new semiconductor-related export license exception introduced by the Bureau of Industry and Security earlier this year. The AES change revises the name of License Code C68 to “Advanced Computing Authorized (ACA) (NO notification required),” according to an Aug. 21 email from Census and a CBP CSMS message.
China’s recently announced export restrictions on antimony (see 2408150022) are expected to cause supplies of the critical mineral to tighten and prices to rise sharply, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Aug. 20.
Although export control reforms by the U.S., Australia and the U.K. could exempt about three-quarters of defense trade between the countries and reduce compliance costs for industry, more updates are needed to remove lingering licensing barriers and address structural challenges posed by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, researchers said this week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add 123 entities to the Entity List, expand the scope of its Russia/Belarus-Military End User Foreign-Direct Product rule, add export controls on certain computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools-related software, and makes corrections to the agency’s Russia and Belarus controls, the agency said in two rules released Aug. 23. The Entity List and FDP rule updates take effect Aug. 27, and the new CNC controls and other corrections take effect Sept. 16.