The Bureau of Industry and Security is removing three entities under four entries from the Entity List, the agency said. BIS is removing one entity under the destination of Australia, one entity under China, and one entity under the destinations of Iran and the United Arab Emirates. The agency is also updating five entries under Pakistan, BIS said.

The Census Bureau is making corrections to the Foreign Trade Regulations after an April 19 revision of the regulations inadvertently did not update some sections to reflect intended changes to current export filing requirements in the International Trade Data System, Census said. The changes will take effect Sept. 20.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comment on the effect of current foreign policy-based export controls set forth in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), BIS said. Comments are due by Oct. 7. Comments will help the agency determine whether to continue these export controls past their current January 2018 expiration to January 2019, and will be included in a report to be sent to Congress. Foreign policy-based export controls are outlined in EAR parts 742 (Commerce Control List-based controls), 744 (end-user and end-use-based controls), and 746 (embargoes and other special controls).

Exporters that can divert cargo away from Houston-area ports there were affected by Hurricane Harvey are "encouraged to do so," CBP said in a CSMS message. "The exporters or their filing agents should make every effort to correct and update the Electronic Export Information (EEI) filings within the Automated Export System to reflect the new port of export, the date of export and the carrier information," it said. "CBP suggests that prior to amending the EEI: exporters, freight forwarders, or the authorized agents; if capable, make efforts to determine if the cargo was damaged. Exporters will need to make business decisions to either update or cancel the EEI."

The Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing a final rule to align the Commerce Control List (CCL) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR) with changes made to the Wassenaar Arrangement’s List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies during the December 2016 Wassenaar Plenary Meeting, BIS said. Eight export control classification numbers (ECCNs) in CCL Category 3 (electronics) were revised, more than in any other category. There will be revisions to 50 ECCNs in total, BIS said. Among the changes is the addition of "Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits" (MMICs) to the list of integrated circuits in the note to ECCN 3A001.a, covering general-purpose integrated circuits.

The Commerce Department is adjusting its export promotion and investment user fees, effective Oct. 1, it said (here). Among the changes is a decision to turn more customized user fee services into standardized user fee services, to improve the consistency and clarity of fee charges, Commerce said. The new user fee schedule will eliminate the small and medium-size enterprise incentive program, which offered an additional discount for first-time users of services. But small businesses will get an average approximately 70 percent discount and medium-size enterprises will get an average approximately 30 percent discount on fees, Commerce said.

The U.S. Census Bureau updated the Automated Export System for the July 1, 2017, version of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) and Schedule B (here), the agency said. Changes to Schedule B include the breakout of certain Schedule B numbers for fruit preparations and vegetables into certified organic and homogenized designations for both commodities, as well as a breakout for electric generating sets into electric generating sets powered by gas turbines and electric generating sets other than powered by gas turbines (here). Census also released concordances for import (here) and export codes (here). Census said that AES will accept shipments with outdated codes for a 30-day grace period beyond the expiration date of June 30, 2017, after which reporting an outdated code will result in a fatal error. The legacy AESDirect system has been updated with the new codes and will accept the outdated codes during the grace period as well, Census said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to align with changes to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) Annex agreed to by MTCR member countries in October 2016, BIS said (here). The final rule is revising 13 Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs), adding one ECCN, revising two EAR-defined terms, and making conforming EAR changes to implement agreements reached at the recent meetings, and to better align missile technology (MT) controls on the Commerce Control List with the MTCR annex, BIS said. The final rule takes effect July 7. U.S. companies now face a 30-day deadline to export or re-export items under license exceptions or without a license that are impacted by the ECCN revisions. The Commerce Department made similar revisions after recent years' MTCR meetings (see 1604010003, 1504060013, and 14052324).

The Commerce Department is accepting comments on an information collection on import, end-user and delivery verification certificates (here). This information collection provides the certification of the overseas importer to the U.S. Government that specific commodities will be imported from the U.S. and will not be re-exported, except in accordance with U.S. export regulations, Commerce said.

The Commerce Department is accepting nominations until July 28 for positions on District Export Councils across the U.S., it said (here). About half of the 35 slots on each of the 60 District Export Councils are opening up for the four-year term from Jan. 1, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2021, it said. The councils work with U.S. Export Assistance Centers and the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service to coordinate efforts to expand export opportunities for local businesses. Appointment is based upon “an individual’s international trade leadership in the local community, ability to influence the local environment for exporting, knowledge of day-to-day international operations, interest in export development, and willingness and ability to devote time to DEC activities,” Commerce said. Members include "exporters, export service providers and others whose profession supports U.S. export promotion efforts," it said.