The European Union's ambassador to the U.S. said that as the world watches the European Union-U.S. summit in a week, they will be looking to see that “we are capable of resolving quickly and effectively our bilateral trade irritants.” He said they also want to see “that we can work and will work together to address the new challenges that sit on the nexus of technology and trade and security.” He said that export controls and cyber security measures are some of the ways to address those challenges, and there should be an announcement at the conference on those matters.
The United Kingdom amended its export control laws regarding defense-related goods to reflect revisions made to the Wassenaar Arrangement munitions list. According to a June 8 guidance, changes were made to Schedule 2 (military goods, software and technology) and Schedule 3 (U.K. controlled dual-use goods, software and technology). The Schedule 2 changes consist of revised definitions and changes to ML1, ML2, ML6, ML8, ML10, ML11, ML13, ML15, ML17, ML18 and ML21. The Schedule 3 alterations are changes to definitions and to PL9009, according to the release. The alterations took effect June 7.
Shannon Barley, a Census Bureau official who works on export-related issues, will soon leave her division and transfer elsewhere within Census, she said in a June 8 email. Barley worked with Kiesha Downs, chief of Census’ Foreign Trade Division’s regulations branch, on the agency’s routed export control effort (see 2012080046), the proposed elimination of export filing requirements for shipments to Puerto Rico (see 2104230025) and other export-related regulations. She will no longer work on the Federal Trade Regulations in her new position as a program analyst in the decennial census division. She starts her new role June 21.
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Semiconductors are a major plank of the broad supply chain vulnerability report released by the White House, and the report tries to grapple with the fact that major U.S. manufacturers are reliant on exports to China and that the U.S. and its allies want to maintain a technology edge over Chinese chip manufacturers.
The Commerce Department is unsure whether the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement will be able to meet in person this year after the regime’s 2020 plenary was canceled, potentially creating more uncertainty surrounding the group’s next batch of multilateral export control proposals. The agency also still has not made a decision on eliminating electronic export filing requirements for shipments to Puerto Rico, but has made some progress on its long-awaited routed export rule, a Commerce official said.
The Treasury Department held another discussion with industry on the impact of U.S. sanctions as the agency conducts a review of its sanctions regimes (see 2105280004). The meeting, held last week between Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo and small-business representatives, included a discussion on how Treasury’s sanctions “play a role as small businesses seek to grow and expand,” the agency said June 2. “[T]hrough the sanctions review [Adeyemo] seeks to identify ways to strengthen the sanctions tool to best advance our national security, foreign policy, and economic objectives,” Treasury said. The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said June 7 that it participated in the discussion.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the State Department’s decision to waive sanctions against the company behind Nord Stream 2 (see 2105200055), telling a House committee that the sanctions would’ve done little to stop the nearly completed pipeline from being finished and would've only damaged U.S. relations with Germany. But Blinken also said the agency may be willing to rescind the waiver and impose the sanctions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a final rule to reflect the United Arab Emirates formally ending its participation in the Arab League Boycott of Israel. Under the rule, effective June 8, certain “requests for information, action or agreement from the UAE” will not be “presumed to be boycott-related” -- and therefore not restricted or reportable under the Export Administration Regulations -- if they were made before Aug. 16, 2020, BIS said.
The Shanghai-based Xin Bai law firm released a May report on sanctions in China (see 2101110042), providing an overview and “practical information” on China’s evolving sanctions regime. The report lays out the framework of China’s sanctions legislation, including what types of sanctions it can impose, the scope of those restrictions, potential penalties, compliance requirements for businesses, and the export licensing and reporting process.