BIS Adds 12 to Entity List
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security added 12 foreign entities or persons to BIS’s Entity List, according to a May 13 notice, including several entities in China. BIS said the additions include four entities with locations in China and Hong Kong, along with two other entities in China and one Pakistani entity and five entities or individuals in the United Arab Emirates. Each is now subject to specific license requirements “for the export, reexport, and/or in-country transfer of controlled items,” BIS said. The 12 "have been determined by the U.S. Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests," the agency said in a separate notice.
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The four entities in China and Hong Kong -- Avin Electronics Technology Co., Ltd. (AETC), Multi-Mart Electronics Technology Co, Ltd., Tenco Technology Company Ltd. and Yutron Technology Co. Ltd. -- tried to “procure U.S.-origin commodities that would have supported” Iran’s weapons of mass destruction and military programs, according to BIS and a notice in the Federal Register. Two other Chinese entities -- Longkui Qu and Taizhou CBM-Future New Material Science and Technology Co., Ltd. -- were involved in illegally exporting controlled technology that was then supplied to “organizations affiliated” with China’s People's Liberation Army. The Pakistani company -- Impex Trade & Services -- was involved in “procuring controlled technology” for Pakistan’s “unsafeguarded nuclear activities,” BIS said. Four of the Emirati entities -- Emirates Hermes General Trading; Presto Freight International, LLC; Basha Asmath Shaikh; and Manohar Nair -- obtained U.S.-origin products “for an existing entity list member without a license” and for “denied party” Mahan Air, BIS said. Mahan Air is subject to a temporary denial order, it said. Another UAE entity -- German Sky International Trading Company LLC -- “refused to support a BIS end-use[r] check,” the notice said.
“We are putting individuals, businesses, and organizations across the world on notice that they will be held accountable for supporting Iran’s WMD activities and other illicit schemes,” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement. “Moreover, we cannot allow China’s civil-military integration strategy to undermine U.S. national security through prohibited technology transfer plots orchestrated by state actors. This designation complements criminal actions BIS and the Department of Justice are taking to penalize the theft of controlled U.S. technology.”
(Federal Register 05/14/19)