The U.K.’s Department for International Trade this week made changes to its export control regulations. The changes include a correction to a “mistake made by an earlier amending instrument” and the removal of Russia as a “permitted destination for the Retained General Export Authorisations.”
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security is preparing to add China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. and 35 other Chinese companies to its Entity List as early as this week, Bloomberg reported Dec. 13. YMTC and other companies have been at risk of being added to the Entity List since being placed on the BIS Unverified List in October. Under a new policy, BIS can transfer entities from the UVL to the more restrictive Entity List if they don’t cooperate with a U.S. end-use check within 60 days (see 2210070006). A BIS spokesperson didn’t comment.
Allied export control authorities should be more nimble, harmonized and coordinated to maximize their effectiveness, particularly around Russia restrictions, said Kevin Wolf, a former senior U.S. export control official. In written comments last week to the U.K. Parliament’s arms export control committees, Wolf also said the U.K. and other countries can improve their export enforcement efforts against Russia, including by creating incentives for companies to “enhance” their compliance programs, dedicating more resources to study Russian sanctions evasion and working together to create a “standard structure of export control violations.”
Japan and the Netherlands have “agreed in principle” to join the U.S. in imposing certain new semiconductor export controls on China (see 2212080012), Bloomberg reported Dec. 12. The agreement, which will likely be announced in the “coming weeks,” will see Japan and the Netherlands “adopt at least some” of the restrictions announced by the Bureau of Industry and Security in October (see 2210070049), the report said. The two countries are planning to restrict exports of “machinery capable of fabricating 14-nanometer or more advanced chips to China,” the report said. A BIS spokesperson pointed to Undersecretary Alan Estevez's comments last week, when he said he remains confident U.S. allies will impose similar export restrictions against China (see 2212060059).
U.S.-China tensions and trade restrictions have had a “chilling effect” on research and technology collaboration between the two countries, resulting in slower advancements in some scientific fields, according to a report last week from the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Stanford University's Center on China's Economy and Institutions. The report predicts that more U.S. policies “restricting collaboration” are likely. “[I]f export controls and restrictions on technology sharing in fields such as biotech are introduced by the executive branch, they could have significant repercussions for universities and researchers,” the report said.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls completed an interagency review for a final rule related to certain license exemptions for allies. The rule, received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Dec. 2 and completed Dec. 8, would amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations’ Supplement No. 1 to Part 126 “in support of allies.” DDTC in July announced an open general license pilot to authorize reexports and retransfers of certain defense items and services to Australia, Canada and the U.K. (see 2207190008).
The Bureau of Industry and Security again (see 2209120002) sent a final rule for interagency review that could implement certain export control decisions agreed to at the multilateral Australia Group and place new controls on certain marine toxins, plant pathogens and biological equipment. BIS sent the rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Dec. 7 after previously sending it to OIRA Sept. 9, where it was completed with some changes (see 2209120002). The rule, if published, could finalize May proposed controls on four dual-use biological toxins that BIS said can be weaponized to kill people or animals.
A deal between the U.S. and the Netherlands on new export controls for chipmaking equipment destined for China could come as soon as next month, Bloomberg reported Dec. 7. The U.S. has been working to convince the Dutch to impose similar semiconductor export controls and restrict the ability of Netherlands-based ASML to provide certain advanced equipment to China (see 2211210035). The report said it remains unclear what the potential U.S.-Dutch agreement would mean for ASML’s China sales. Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said Dec. 7 that he remains confident the U.S. will convince allies to impose harsher restrictions against China, and said he respects the Netherlands’ desire to shape its own export control policies (see 2212060059).
The Bureau of Industry and Security's additions to the Entity List this week shows the agency is “constantly monitoring, assessing, and acting to prevent items subject to U.S. law from being diverted to malign purposes,” Undersecretary Alan Estevez said in a press release published by BIS Dec. 8. The agency this week added 24 companies to the Entity List for participating in illegal exports to aid Russia’s military, supply export-controlled items to Iran or support Pakistan’s nuclear activities (see 2212070022).
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls published in the Federal Register this week its temporary suspension of certain export license requirements for certain capacitors described in the U.S. Munitions List. The suspension, announced last month (see 2211230030), will last for six months and could allow DDTC to better “facilitate” commercial transactions involving the capacitors, including for the energy exploration and aviation sectors.