U.S. persons may be able to host sanctioned people as speakers at overseas conferences without a specific authorization, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said, marking an apparent reversal of the agency’s previous sanctions policy for speaking engagements.
China appears to be preparing to use its own set of extraterritorial export controls against the U.S. in response to the Biden administration’s latest chip restrictions and Entity List additions, an official with the U.S.-China Business Council said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on a set of FAQs for its recently released China-related semiconductor export control rules (see 2412020016), which should clear up confusion about when certain new foreign direct product rule restrictions take effect and how they apply, a BIS official said this week.
House Republicans have chosen Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the next Congress.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., introduced a wide-ranging Hong Kong bill Dec. 9 that would, among other things, reauthorize the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act for five years.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned China-based Sichuan Silence Information Technology Company and an employee, Guan Tianfeng, for their roles in a 2020 cyber attack against U.S. critical infrastructure companies and firewalls of thousands of businesses worldwide. OFAC said the company tried to steal sensitive data, including usernames and passwords, and infect victims’ systems with ransomware. The agency added that Sichuan Silence is a cybersecurity government contractor whose “core clients” are Chinese intelligence services.
The U.K. released new data on Israel-related export licenses this week, about three months after the U.K. suspended a range of licenses for Israel over concerns they were being used to ship items for the Israeli military in Gaza (see 2409030023).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is crafting a new interim final rule titled “Export Control Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion.” BIS sent the rule for interagency review on Dec. 9. The agency didn’t release more information.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding eight companies to the Entity List that it said are “enabling human rights violations,” including by supplying sensitive technology or military items to the Chinese, Russian and Myanmar militaries. The additions, outlined in a final rule released Dec. 10 and effective Dec. 11, target technology companies and supplier firms based in each of those three countries.
Companies should expect the U.S. government to continue to prioritize enforcement of export controls in the coming months, including by issuing new penalties for export violations, said Matthew Axelrod, the Bureau of Industry and Security’s top export enforcement official. He also revealed that BIS is using a new tool to better screen foreign parties listed on license applications, and he said a recent shift in how the agency uses metrics has allowed it to devote more attention to cases involving the most sensitive technology.