The Department of State published its spring 2019 regulatory agenda. The agenda includes a new mention of a proposal to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to include definitions for "activities that are not exports, re-exports, or retransfers." The activities include "launching items into space; providing technical data to U.S. persons within the United States or within a single country abroad; and moving a defense article between the states, possessions, and territories of" the U.S., State said. The proposal also "removes from ITAR licensing requirements the electronic transmission and storage of unclassified technical data via foreign communications infrastructure when the data is secured sufficiently to prevent access by foreign persons." Under the proposal, State would also amend the ITAR to create definitions for “access information” and revise definitions of release to include “the improper provision of access information to foreign persons.” State is aiming to issue the proposal in September, it said.

The agenda also includes a rule that would revise Categories I, II and III of the U.S. Munitions List to include items that gives the U.S. a “critical military or intelligence advantage or otherwise warrant control at the highest level.” The rule states that exports of “commercially available firearms and ammunition,” removed from Category I and III, will continue to be controlled under the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Commerce Control List. State said the transition from the Munitions List to the CCL “will result in a net reduction in regulatory burden for the affected manufacturing and export community.” State aims to issue the rule in May 2019, it said.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced three bipartisan measures calling for sanctions against countries it said are involved in corruption, human rights abuses and trade that harms U.S. national security. The measures, advanced on May 22, called for sanctions on countries in the Northern Triangle, Georgia and Turkey.

The Commerce Department plans to roll back regulations that make it easier for U.S. exporters to sell goods that have both civilian and military purposes, making it more difficult for China to acquire U.S. technology, according to a May 23 report by Politico. As part of its plans, Commerce is considering ending a general policy of approving export licenses for products bound for civilian use, instead switching to reviews on a “case-by-case basis,” the report said. Commerce’s plans include “four regulatory actions” that target China under the Export Control Reform Act, including options that would revoke two license exceptions relating to shipping restricted technology to China and an option that would expand a ban on U.S. defense-related exports to China, the report said.

The Department of Commerce published its spring 2019 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security. The agenda continues to mention an upcoming a long-awaited proposed rulemaking involving parties’ responsibilities under the Export Administration Regulations in a routed export transaction, saying the proposal will be published in May 2019. Sharron Cook, a senior policy export analyst for BIS, said in April the rule change will help solve some of the bigger frustrations with the current regulations faced by export forwarders (see 1904170064). BIS is aiming to issue the proposal in May, it said.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security is adding five new national security-related technologies to the Export Administration Regulations’ Commerce Control List, according to a notice in the Federal Register. The additions stem from changes made to the Wassenaar Arrangement’s List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies agreed to during the 2018 Plenary meeting, the notice said. The changes add “recently developed or developing technologies” that are “essential” to U.S. national security: “discrete microwave transistors,” “continuity of operation software,” “post-quantum cryptography,” “underwater transducers designed to operate as hydrophones” and “air-launch platforms.” The notice is scheduled for publication and the changes take effect on May 23.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to remove Venezuela from Country Group B and add it to Country Groups D:1-4, which “lists countries of national security concern” and adds new licensing requirements while restricting the use of certain license exceptions for exports. The changes take effect May 24.

China recently announced the repeal of labeling submission requirements for pre-packaged food, and added new functionalities to its online customs systems to facilitate value-added tax refunds. It also set new standards for electronically submitted documents, as well as new inspection procedures for auto parts at the Port of Shanghai. The following is an update on recent customs and trade-related actions by China:

The Department of Justice is working on more ways to reward corporate compliance programs and searching for benefits that extend beyond lenient rulings on violations, said Claire McCusker Murray, the DOJ's principal deputy associate attorney general.

An agricultural exporter recently joined a Supreme Court challenge of the constitutionality of Section 232 duties on steel and aluminum imports. Basrai Farms says the brunt of retaliatory tariffs imposed worldwide in response to the U.S. tariffs has fallen on the agriculture industry, and that the Supreme Court should find Section 232 unconstitutional because President Donald Trump was required to consider these broader effects when imposing the tariffs.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 13-17 in case they were missed.