The interagency End-User Review Committee, as ordered through the Bureau of Industry and Security, is adding 23 entities to the Entity List under destinations of Russia and the Crimea region of Ukraine, BIS said (here). The action, which will take effect Dec. 27, follows the Office of Foreign Assets Control's addition of seven individuals, eight entities and two vessels to the Specially Designated Nationals list, under Russia/Ukraine designations, as well as OFAC's addition of 26 entities to its Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List under Russia/Ukraine designations (see 1612210019).

The Bureau of Industry and Security on Dec. 15 is implementing a change to standard language on validated licenses to align with the change in requirements for destination control statements set out in an Aug. 17 final rule (see 1608170023) that took effect Nov. 17, BIS said (here). The change narrows a previous requirement under the Export Administration Regulations to include destination control statements on all bills of lading, airway bills and commercial invoices. With the change, a destination control statement is required on only commercial invoices for shipments of items on the Commerce Control List. The new language will appear on all current validated licenses available for review or printing on BIS’s Simplified Network Application Process Redesign (SNAP-R) system.

The Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department now plan to issue coordinated final rules shifting U.S. Munitions List (USML) Category XV items (spacecraft systems and associated equipment) to the Commerce Control List (CCL) in January, before the end of the Obama administration, government officials said during the BIS Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) meeting Dec. 13. BIS and State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls hoped to issue those final rules by the end of this year (see 1611020030). “We didn’t quite make it by December 31 … but I’m 100 percent sure it will be published and final and effective before January 20,” Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Kevin Wolf said during the meeting. Wolf told attending industry representatives to contact BIS regarding any desired control changes they would like to see reflected in the rule.

Only 10 of the Bureau of Industry and Security’s more than 400 employees are set to exit the agency when the Trump administration takes over on Jan. 20, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Eric Hirschhorn said during a Dec. 7 meeting of the President’s Export Council Subcommittee on Export Administration (PECSEA). Hirschhorn is meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team for the first time on Dec. 8, he said. The transition team was gathering information from the Commerce Department this week, while personnel issues were being discussed elsewhere, Hirschhorn said. The work terms for political appointees Hirschhorn, Assistant Secretary for Export Administration Kevin Wolf, and BIS Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement David Mills will expire at the end of the Obama administration, a BIS spokesperson said in October (see 1610310022).

The State Department is issuing a final rule to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to clarify recent revisions made under President Barack Obama’s Export Control Reform Initiative, State said (here). Specifically, the rule clarifies the scope of disclosure of information submitted to the department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, clarifies policies and procedures of statutory debarments, and corrects “administrative and typographical” errors, State said. The rule will become effective Dec. 5, but State will accept comments on the rule until Jan. 4.

The Bureau of Industry and Security in a final rule is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to remove Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation from the list of validated end-users that U.S. companies may export to, BIS said (here). The company requested the removal, which will take effect Dec. 5.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing a final rule to remove from the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) the Special Iraq Reconstruction License (SIRL), 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. BIS received no comments in response to the June 7 proposed rule on the matter (see 1606060012), and is adopting the proposed changes as final, it said.

The State Department is seeking Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for an information collection on the DS-7787 form: “Disclosure of Violations of the Arms Export Control Act,” State said (here). The department is giving the public until Dec. 28 to provide comments, which will inform its subsequent formal submission to OMB for approval. State is planning to switch from paper to automated DS-7787 forms as part of a Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) information technology modernization product, State said. The new automated form will allow DDTC and respondents to more easily trace and analyze submissions, the agency said.

Exports, re-exports or in-country transfers of certain pressure tubes, pipes, fittings, pipe valves, machine tools, oscilloscopes and transient recorders will no longer require a license for nonproliferation (“NP”) reasons to ship to Iraq, Israel, Libya and Pakistan, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a planned final rule (here). But other licensing requirements will remain in place. Specifically, pressure tubes, pipes, fittings and pipe valves controlled under Commerce Control List Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 2A292; pumps controlled under ECCN 2A293; numerically controlled machine tools controlled under ECCN 2B290; and oscilloscopes and transient recorders controlled under ECCN 3A292 will no longer require a license for “NP” reasons to ship to those countries, indicated under “NP Column 2” on the Commerce Country Chart. BIS is issuing the final rule to better align U.S. nonproliferation controls with nuclear nonproliferation requirements of other Nuclear Suppliers Group countries, none of which require a nonproliferation-related license for those items, BIS said.

Members of the International Trade Administration’s recently formed Trade Finance Advisory Council (TFAC) can help bridge executive branch export financing policies and programs heading into the new Trump administration, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said Nov. 18 during the first meeting. Deputy Commerce Secretary Bruce Andrews told members to craft actionable recommendations grounded in a “solid consensus.” TFAC member and Meridian Finance Group President Gary Mendell said there is a need for public/private partnerships like TFAC to expand and ensure the durability of credit financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).