The Bureau of Industry and Security will hold its annual “Update” Conference on Export Controls and Policy in Washington on July 9-11, it said in an emailed update. “This major outreach activity draws business and government representatives from around the world to learn and exchange ideas about export control issues,” it said. “The 2019 BIS Annual Conference will be at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. Conference room rates, detailed registration and program information will be provided as it becomes available.”
During a March 11 program billed as an information session on upcoming export controls on emerging technologies, Department of Commerce officials were unable to give in-depth details, pointing to delays caused by the recent partial federal government shutdown and an overwhelming number of public comments.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control amended two general licenses related to Venezuelan sanctions, OFAC said in a March 8 notice, extending the expiration date of provisions allowing transactions that involve the “wind down of certain financial contracts” with Venezuela. The first general license includes a provision that permits the divestment or transfer of Venezuelan-related bonds as long as the trades were placed before 4 p.m. on Feb. 1. The second general license allows “facilitating, clearing, and settling transactions” involving divestiture of holdings in Petroleos de Venezuela, the U.S.-sanctioned Venezuelan oil company, for all transactions that were placed before 4 p.m. on Jan. 28. Both authorizations are permitted only if divestments or transfers are made to a non-U.S. person, OFAC said. Transactions are authorized until May 10.
Work continues at CBP on its electronic pre-departure export manifest system, which the agency sees as a necessary precondition before the post-departure Automated Export System filing program is brought back, said Jim Swanson, CBP director-cargo and conveyance security and controls, in an interview. CBP is working on operational benefits for carriers to ramp up participation in its pilots in the ocean, rail and air modes, and hopes to move forward with truck pre-departure manifest next year, Swanson said.
Export licenses issued by United Kingdom authorities will no longer be valid for dual-use exports from the European Union if the U.K. leaves the EU with no deal on March 29, the U.K. Department for International Trade said in a guidance document issued March 6. The same goes for licenses issued by other EU member states, which after a no-deal Brexit could no longer be used to export dual use items from the U.K., the guidance said.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control extended the expiration date of two general licenses related to GAZ Group, allowing certain transactions involving the sanctioned company until July 6, 2019, OFAC said in March 6 notice. The previous expiration date, issued in a Jan. 16 notice, was March 7. The sanctions against GAZ Group are Ukraine-related, and the company was designated as an “oligarch-owned” entity after OFAC said in a April 2018 notice that the company was owned or controlled by “Russian Machines” and oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who also is identified as having a large stake in Russian aluminum producer Rusal. The notice said GAZ Group is Russia’s “leading manufacturer of commercial vehicles.”
The State Department seeks comments by May 7 on a proposed change to its procedures for submitting voluntary disclosures of violations of the Arms Export Control Act. “Historically, respondents to this information collection submitted their disclosures to [the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC)] in writing via hard copy documentation. However, as part of an IT modernization project designed to streamline the collection and use of information by DDTC, a discrete form has been developed for the submission of voluntary disclosures. This will allow both DDTC and respondents submitting a disclosure to more easily track submissions,” it said. As it sends the new information collection procedure to OMB for approval, State seeks comments on whether the information collection is necessary, how it can be improved, and how the burden on industry can be reduced.
The Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department seek comments by April 22 to inform its review of recently revised export controls on launch vehicles and spacecraft, they said in two separate notices. Conducted as part of their work on the National Space Council, the agencies seek input on how to streamline controls for the commercial space industry, particularly in light of recent moves from U.S. Munitions List Categories IV and XV to the dual use Commerce Control List.
CBP is starting to automate filings on used-car exports, a move that will help it more efficiently regulate an industry that has been “heavily infiltrated” by international criminal organizations, said Jim Swanson, director of CBP’s cargo and conveyance security and controls division. Swanson said CBP will move from a paper-based to an electronic-based filing system for used-car exports, which will allow the agency to verify or prohibit certain exports more quickly and accurately, abandoning an old method that sometimes resulted in original car titles getting lost.
The Mexico Tax Administration Service announced that it has added a functionality in its VUCEM single window to allow downloads in PDF format of receipts of electronic submission of import documentation. Available in the “Consulta Documento Digitalizado” section, the new functionality is available as of March 6, SAT said. Electronic document receipts are required as part of “electronic files” of import and export documentation that must be maintained by importers, exporters and customs agents in Mexico under a regulation that took effect Dec. 22, 2018.