A new automated tool that allows the Bureau of Industry and Security to screen license applications against certain U.S. government intelligence information could lead to an uptick in license denials, a Commerce Department official said.
Colombia formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on March 19, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 93. The WTO needs 18 more countries to accept to get to two-thirds of the membership, the threshold for the agreement to take effect.
The European Commission on March 19 imposed definitive antidumping duties on glass fiber yarns from China after finding that "significant Chinese overcapacity" of the yarn injured the EU industry. The duties range from 26.3% to 56.1%.
The EU plans to update its export controls to make them more effective amid rapid geopolitical and technological change, a government official said March 19.
The State Department approved a possible $165 million military sale to Australia, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said this week. The sale includes "Countermeasures, Chaff, and Impulse Cartridges" and related equipment; principal contractors will be Kilgore Flares, Armtec Countermeasures, Alloy Surface and CCI Capco.
The Bureau of Industry and Security plans later this month to add 30 companies and remove 17 others from its boycott requester list, a list of entities that have asked other companies to boycott goods from certain countries in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (see 2412300003). The change will bring the total number of companies on the list to 165, a Commerce Department official said at the BIS annual update conference this week. The official said the list has “driven foreign parties to change their behavior by” convincing them to eliminate boycott language from their business documents.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week updated its website with a new page that lists all past BIS-related rules and notices published in the Federal Register; new tools to search the Commerce Control List; and more, a Commerce Department official said at the agency’s annual update conference. The official said the updates are the “first phase of our ongoing enhancement and migration efforts to transition information from the” old BIS website to the new one (see 2312040016).
The U.S. filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on March 18 against an aircraft that was allegedly smuggled from the U.S. and operated to benefit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his representatives in Venezuela, in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls. The aircraft, a Dassault Falcon 900 EX plane with tail number T7-ESPRT, was seized last year in the Dominican Republic at the request of the U.S., DOJ said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is considering expanding its statute of limitations for certain export control violations, a Commerce Department official said.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., announced March 17 that he has reintroduced a bill to require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review agricultural land purchases by certain foreign entities, including those from China and Russia. The Security and Oversight for International Landholdings Act also would broaden disclosure requirements for foreign purchases of U.S. farmland. The bill, which Lankford originally introduced in the last Congress, was referred to the Senate Agriculture Committee.