Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week renewed a temporary export denial order for Mahan Airways -- along with other entities and people tied to the Iranian airline -- after discovering a Taiwan-based company recently used the airline to send export-controlled parts to Russia.
Western nations imposing export controls against Russia should shift their focus away from microchips and instead prioritize the key raw materials and machine tools that Moscow needs for its artillery, according to a report this month from the U.K-based Royal United Services Institute and Open Source Centre. The report calls for more enforcement against Chinese machine tool suppliers and new, “strict sanctions” against companies shipping materials like chrome ore that Russia uses for its weapons.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add more than 40 entries to the Entity List for shipping sensitive items to Russia or for other activities that support Russia’s military, and it will tighten restrictions on nearly 50 entities already on the list that BIS said are procuring U.S.-branded microelectronics for Russia, the agency said in a final rule released Oct. 30. BIS also plans to introduce new chemical weapons-related controls for certain chemical precursors that Russia has used in chemical weapons against Ukraine, it said in a separate final rule.
Data compiled by law firm Duane Morris shows which European nations are most actively enforcing sanctions, including by issuing fines, pursuing criminal convictions and undertaking investigations.
China’s Ministry of Commerce criticized a decision by the U.S. earlier this month to sanction two Chinese firms for helping to make drones for Russia (see 2410170011), saying the designations have “no basis in international law and are not authorized by the UN Security Council.” The ministry also said China doesn’t allow its businesses to sell drone parts for use by Russia’s military and has recently strengthened export inspections to stop those shipments.
The Bureau of Industry and Security’s proposed reporting rule for AI developers should shift from a computer-based threshold to a performance-based threshold to provide a better measure of risk, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s Center for Data Innovation told BIS this month.
The Senate’s proposed Georgian People’s Act will be modified “if needed” to ensure those responsible for “fraud and manipulation” in the country's recent parliamentary elections “are held accountable,” Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said in a joint statement this week.
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China urged the Commerce Department this week to prevent American know-how and investment from supporting the development of China’s photonic semiconductor sector.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is starting to apply “data identification markings” to all documents attached to commodity jurisdiction and advisory opinion submissions, which will identify documents that are “SBU” (sensitive but unclassified) or as “PII” (personally identifiable information). DDTC said the change will “better manage the information being stored and transmitted within” the agency’s Defense Export Control and Compliance System (DECCS). “This will not impact requests in progress,” DDTC said. “If you receive an email from ‘Auto Classification User’, this is a notice that a document you have submitted was updated. No action is required.”