An engineering products company in India has been placed on the denial of export privileges list by the Bureau of Industry and Security because the company did not pay any of the $100,000 fine it agreed to for exporting sensitive material from the United States to Iran. Narender Sharma and his company Hydel Engineering Products exported the items to Iran without required U.S. government authorization, according to the denial order. The company was required to pay $30,000 of the fine amount in December 2017, but never did. The rest of the fine was initially suspended during a five-year probationary period, stipulated on its timely payment of the initial fine amount.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding export licensing restrictions for several Chinese companies, adding them to its “Entity List” as a result of their illicit procurement and risk of diversion of commodities and technologies for unauthorized military end-use in China, BIS said. Effective Aug. 1, new restrictions on licenses and license exceptions for dual-use goods under the Export Administration Regulations are added for the following companies and subordinate institutions.

The Commerce Department will reduce the number of military and high-tech items that will require licenses for export to India, Secretary Wilbur Ross announced July 30. India will be moved into Tier 1 of the Strategic Trade Authorization license exception program. "STA Tier 1 treatment, comparable to NATO allies, will expand the scope of exports subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) that can be made to India without individual licenses," Commerce said. It estimated that there was $9.7 billion worth of exports to India over the last seven years that required licenses and would no longer require licenses under the new classification.

The Energy Department on July 25 issued a final rule to streamline the process for approval of small scale natural gas exports to countries that don’t have a free trade agreement with the United States. Under the final rule, DOE will issue an export authorization based on any complete application to export natural gas, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), to countries with which the U.S. has not entered into a FTA requiring national treatment for trade in natural gas and with which trade is not prohibited by U.S. law or policy. The application must be limited to exports of natural gas up to 51.75 billion cubic feet per year, and must not require an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment. The change will expedite the application and approval process for the emerging market involving exports of small volumes of natural gas from the U.S. to countries primarily in the Caribbean, Central America and South America, DOE said. The rule is effective Aug. 24, 2018.

Large-scale agriculture is one of America's competitive advantages, and farm exports are one of the top targets for tariffs in China, the European Union, Mexico and Canada. But Rob Johansson, chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said even though tariffs are high enough to disrupt sales, "at least in terms of short-run effects, you could see trade increasing." Johansson explained: "Markets will find a way." As China buys more soybeans from South American countries, such as Argentina and Brazil, U.S. soybeans will go to the markets Brazil and Argentina had been selling to. He said agriculture economists will be watching to see which tariffs are high enough to keep a product out of the market. Johansson was one of the experts discussing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's 10-year agricultural outlook at a program in Washington on July 10.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security renewed an export denial order for Mahan Airways. The Iranian airline has been on the banned list since 2008, and the notice renewed the ban for 180 days, BIS said. It was last renewed in December 2017. Also named in the order were the following, many of which are based in the United Arab Emirates: Pejman Mahmood Kosarayanifard, Mahmoud Amini, Kerman Aviation, Sirjanco Trading LLC, Mahan Air General Trading LLC, Mehdi Bahrami, Al Naser Airlines, Ali Abdullah Alhay, Bahar Safwa General Trading, Sky Blue Bird Group, and Issam Shammout.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is correcting a recent notice of changes to its Unverified List to fix errant names and addresses on newly added entities. “These omissions were inadvertent and failure to correct them would cause confusion and possibly compromise national security,” it said. BIS on May 17 added 33 entities from Canada, China, Estonia, Finland, Pakistan, Russia and the United Arab Emirates to the list, which includes entities for which the U.S. government failed to complete satisfactory end-use checks, and therefore could not verify the entities' bona fides (see 1805160023).

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America "is not aware of any law prohibiting the disclosure" of Employer Identification Numbers that might prevent compliance with new Chinese customs data requirements, the NCBFAA said in an email. China's General Administration of Customs is requiring the shipper code and contact identifier for all master and house airway bills as of June 1 (see 1805140017). The GAC requires an EIN or Central Index Key (CIK) (or the comparable government identification for shippers or forwarders in other countries) of U.S.-based shippers and forwarders, meaning the EINs will be disclosed to both the carrier and GAC, the NCBFAA said. "The NCBFAA understands that many parties are concerned regarding potential liability for disclosing EINs to [GAC] and third parties. The association believes that EINs are not, however, protected in the same manner as Social Security Numbers ('SSNs'), and are instead considered to be public information," it said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department are publishing concurrent proposals to reorganize export controls on firearms, accessories and ammunition. Under the proposed rules, non-automatic and semi-automatic firearms up to and including caliber .50 (12.7mm), as well as shotguns with a barrel length of 18 inches or less, would no longer be controlled under the International Traffic in Arms regulations, and would instead be added as dual-use goods to the Commerce Control List. Comments are due July 9.

China announced it will no longer collect 178.6 percent cash deposits on U.S. sorghum, because the antidumping case is not in the public interest. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on May 18 that continuing the duties would drive inflation for consumers. Sorghum is mostly fed to livestock in China, as corn prices rise. The deposits are being returned, Bloomberg reported. China imported about $957 million of U.S. sorghum in 2017 and purchases were down 15 percent in the first quarter compared to a year earlier, Bloomberg reported, citing Customs data. Farmers had used the grain in animal feed in place of domestic corn, which climbed 20 percent last year.