U.S. restrictions on exports of personal protective equipment are not expected to have a significant impact on U.S. industry, particularly because most U.S. companies produce those goods overseas, trade observers said. Companies have been more heavily impacted by recently announced Chinese restrictions on medical exports, which have caused customs delays and a backlog of shipments, the U.S.-China Business Council said.
The United Kingdom’s Export Control Joint Unit updated its application form for firearms export licenses, according to an April 14 notice. The form was updated to allow licensing officers to “add certain details,” the U.K. said. The form is required for exporting firearms to European Union countries.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security this week postponed several upcoming export compliance seminars due to the COVID-19 pandemic response and announced an online-only export control conference for May. The online conference, which will run May 19-22, will cover a range of export compliance topics, BIS said, including the scope of the Export Administration Regulations, classifying items for export, using license exceptions, the de minimis and direct product rules, export enforcement and more. The conference will be hosted by “BIS specialists” during a daily three-hour session from 9 a.m. to noon. The conference will also include a question-and-answer session. Note that the conference is on Pacific Daylight Time.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is finalizing controls on benzylfentanyl and 4-anilinopiperidine and their amides, carbamates and salts as list I chemicals under the Controlled Substances Act. The two chemicals are used in the manufacture of fentanyl, DEA said. DEA is not setting a threshold for domestic and international transactions for these chemicals, so all transactions of chemical mixtures containing benzylfentanyl or 4-anilinopiperidine will be regulated at any concentration and will be subject to control under the CSA, the agency said. The final rule takes effect May 15.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 6-10 in case you missed them.
Although the U.S. provides broad exemptions for humanitarian exports to Iran, the exemptions continue to be a source of confusion for industry, which is hindering humanitarian trade with Iran, said Katherine Bauer, a former senior policy adviser for Iran at the Treasury Department. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control may issue guidance to clarify the exemptions, Bauer said, but the Trump administration is unlikely to make any major changes to its Iranian sanctions regulations.
China’s new export inspections for quality control on certain medical equipment (see 2004100043) caused “immediate” delays of shipments as traders and manufacturers tried to understand how best to comply, according to an April 11 report in The New York Times. Producers, freight agents and other stakeholders said the delays have lasted anywhere from a few hours to a few days, the report said.
Marshall Billingslea, the Treasury Department's former assistant secretary for terrorist financing, was named the special presidential envoy for arms control, the State Department said April 10. In the role, Billingslea will lead U.S. arms control negotiations, which will include a “new era” of arms control that “moves beyond the bilateral treaties of the past,” the State Department said. Billingslea has staunchly defended the U.S. sanctions and its maximum pressure campaign against Iran (see 1909130064).
The State Department’s Defense Trade Advisory Group will hold its May 14 meeting online due to the measures in place to control the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said in a notice. The meeting will feature discussions on improvements surrounding the Defense Export Control and Compliance System (see 2002190025), improving compliance guidelines for companies and universities, and more. The group, composed of industry representatives in the defense trade sector, advises the State Department on policies, regulations and technical issues impacting defense trade.
The Trump administration should take more “diplomatic action” to renew the expiring United Nations arms embargo on Iran, U.S. lawmakers said in a dear colleague letter being circulated. Even though Iran continually violates UN bans on arms transfers, the ban is an “important means” to restrict weapons sales to Iran, the lawmakers said in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The expiration of the arms embargo, which is set for October, could lead to more states buying and selling weapons to and from Iran, which could have “disastrous consequences” for U.S. national security. The lawmakers also urged Pompeo to “make clear” that U.S. sanctions on Iranian arms transfers will “remain in place and will be fully enforced.”