The Commerce Department published its spring 2022 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security, including two new mentions of rules that could result in new emerging technology export controls.
In its recently issued Forced Labor Enforcement Strategy, DHS said CBP is making use of the Bureau of Industry and Security's export enforcement arm to identify Xinjiang entities that are involved in forced labor. CBP uses a “range of sources and research tools, both public and non-public,” to identify the entities, DHS said in its strategy document, including the interagency end-user review committee, which selects the parties that are added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is looking to build on its ability to impose multilateral export controls, said senior BIS official Thea Kendler. Kendler, speaking during a conference last week hosted by the American Association of Exporters and Importers, said the agency wants to capitalize on the highly-coordinated Russia controls to better align future restrictions with a “core group of countries,” echoing comments made by Commerce officials earlier this year who voiced support for a new multilateral export control regime.
The Commerce Department and other government agencies can better tailor their outreach efforts to universities to mitigate export control risks in academia, the Government Accountability Office said in a report last week. Although Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI all conduct outreach with colleges to prevent illegal deemed exports and other sensitive technology transfers, they can do a better job identifying and analyzing export control “risk factors,” GAO said, and use their “limited resources” to make their outreach more efficient.
The EU needs to modernize and revamp its regulations surrounding intangible technology transfers, which lack sufficient export control guidance, said Magnus Nordeus, vice chair of Digital Europe, a trade policy group. He also said EU companies want more predictability from U.S. export controls, which can be especially difficult to manage for small- and medium-sized businesses.
The Census Bureau is considering a new pilot program that could test the elimination of some export reporting requirements for shipments to Puerto Rico, said Omari Wooden, Census’ assistant division chief for trade outreach and regulations. Officials have so far crafted two proposals that are being discussed “internally,” Wooden said, and would first seek public comment before implementing a potential pilot.
The Bureau of Industry and Security hasn’t given up on a rule to clarify how U.S. companies can participate in standards-setting bodies that have members designated on the Entity List, a senior BIS official said this week. Despite yearslong clamoring for the clarification from technology associations and companies, the rule is facing a lengthy internal review process not only from other agencies but also from different bureaus within the Commerce Department, said Hillary Hess, BIS’s regulatory policy director.
The U.S. should create a new multilateral export control regime to counter China’s unfair industrial policies and misuse of sensitive technologies, said Mark Dallas, an associate professor at Union College in New York and a fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations. A new regime would create a “unified, clear and multilateral voice” around export controls and would reduce “commercial tensions” between the U.S. and its allies through better information sharing and enforcement.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the U.S. a warrant to seize a Boeing 787-8 aircraft and Gulfstream G650ER aircraft owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, DOJ announced June 6. The district court said the airplanes are subject to seizure and forfeiture based on probable cause of violating the Export Control Reform Act and recent Russia sanctions imposed following the country's invasion of Ukraine (see 2206060038).
The Bureau of Industry and Security by now should have penalized Seagate Technologies for illegally exporting goods to Huawei, James Mulvenon, a China technology and military expert, wrote in a June 6 post for the Lawfare blog. Mulvenon said BIS’s “inaction” has emboldened other companies to export similar shipments and is indicative of a larger enforcement issue at BIS surrounding its foreign direct product rule for Huawei.