CBP expects to soon deploy a new training module for its port staff that it hopes will enhance uniformity in how local CBP officials enforce export laws and regulations, Jim Swanson, CBP Office of Field Operations director-cargo security and controls, said at the July 27 meeting of the Customs Commercial Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) in Boston. The agency is about “two-thirds through the process,” and hopes to “deliver” the training module “next fiscal year,” he said. “We’ve got a bunch of training documentation and we’re looking at consolidating that down and trying to build a national subject matter base so we can build uniformity.” Swanson announced the new training module shortly after the COAC adopted a recommendation that CBP develop training that “should lead to standard operating procedures for processing export cargo in a uniform and efficient manner nationally.” The recommendation was meant to bring about “uniformity that we’d like to see at different ports,” said Heidi Bray, trade co-chair of the COAC export subcommittee.

ACE AESDirect will undergo an outage from 10 p.m. July 30 to 4 a.m. July 31, the Census Bureau said in an email. Filers may submit shipments under the AES Downtime Policy, which must be filed along with any new AES transactions in ACE AESDirect after the system comes back online. Census advised AES Downtime export users to contact the port of export before filing, and in lieu of an AES Proof of Filing citation, to use the AES Downtime citation, consisting of the phrase “AESDOWN,” individual company Filer ID and date.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) (here) and the State Department (here) are issuing a final Export Control Reform rule to transfer control of some items on U.S. Munitions List (USML) categories XIV (Toxicological Agents) and XVIII (Directed Energy Weapons) to the Commerce Control List (CCL). The rule will go into effect Dec. 31. The Obama administration now has four USML categories remaining to transfer control of certain goods to the CCL. Export Control Reform aims to move controls to CCL for items that can be used for non-military purposes and those items on the Wassenaar Arrangement list. As of early June, the State Department had seen a 57 percent reduction in licensing volumes across its 15 USML categories since ECR started (see 1606070048).

Harmonized tariff schedule tables were updated in the Automated Export System (AES) and ACE AESDirect program to reflect implementation of the World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement, effective July 1, the Census Bureau said in an email. Both systems will, however, accept outdated codes for shipments through the end of this month, Census said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security ordered Fulfill Your Packages (FYP) to pay a $250,000 civil penalty, $190,000 of which will be suspended for two years as long as FYP doesn’t violate the Arms Export Control Act, BIS said (here). The agency claims that FYP tried to evade the Export Administration Regulations in connection with the attempted 2014 export of a thermal imaging camera to China without a required Commerce export license, using a U.S. Postal Service shipping label and customs declaration falsifying the items as “metal parts” valued at $255, even though BIS estimates the camera’s value at $2,617. BIS’ Office of Export Enforcement on stopped the export, BIS said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is denying export privileges for three individuals for separate instances of Arms Export Control Act violations, the agency said. BIS removed export privileges for Dennis Haag until Sept. 24, 2019, nearly two years after the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan convicted him of exporting rifle barrels and other parts designated on the U.S. Munitions List (USML) to South Africa without a required State Department license, BIS said (here). BIS removed export privileges for Jose Cocchiola (here) until Aug. 19, 2019, after he was convicted Aug. 19, 2014, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida for attempting to export USML-designated 9 millimeter pistols to Venezuela with no State license or approval. BIS also ended export privileges for Ismael Reta (here) until June 15, 2025, after U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas found him guilty of conspiring to export, attempting to export, and causing to be exported to Mexico firearms and ammunition without having a State license or authorization for the exports. Haag, Cocchiola and Reta may appeal by July 30 with the undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security.

The Bureau of Industry and Security amended the Export Administration Regulations to remove an existing eligible facility, add a building to an existing approved address, and to reflect the elimination of one item from the list of eligible destinations/items that U.S. companies may use export to Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (China). The entity is a validated end-user. This final rule (here), which is effective June 23, removes Export Control Classification Number 4D002 from the list of items approved for export, reexport or transfer to Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment.

Worthington Products and its president, Paul Meeks, will pay a $250,000 civil penalty as part of a settlement agreement between the two and the Bureau of Industry and Security reached after Commerce charged them with conspiracy to export an EAR99-designated item to Iran without proper authorization, BIS said (here). Between approximately May 2009 and November 2011, Worthington and Meeks conspired with others to export a $420,256 waterway barrier debris system, designated as “EAR99” but subject to the Iranian TransactionRegulations, to Iranian government entity Mahab Ghodss, via the United Arab Emirates, without authorization from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is proposing to remove the Special Iraq Reconstruction License (SIRL) from the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), which is “outdated” and rarely used by exporters, who have better options for exports and re-exports to and transfers within Iraq, BIS said (here). BIS established SIRL in 2004 to advance civil reconstruction and other projects in Iraq funded by specific entities, including the U.S. government, but exporters have not relied on the license, “apparently because of its complexity and narrowness,” the bureau said. Comments are due by July 5.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing a final rule that will amend the Commerce Control List (CCL) to reflect the February 2015 intersessional recommendations adopted by the Australia Group (AG) and the understandings reached at the June 2015 AG Plenary meeting, as follows: