The State Department on Aug. 15 submitted a determination to Congress that the Australia and U.K. export control systems are “comparable” to those of the U.S., clearing the way for both countries to potentially benefit from defense trade exemptions as part of the AUKUS partnership (see 2408070048). The agency said it plans to “shortly publish” an interim final rule to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and implement that exemption, which will take effect Sept. 1.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week fined a Pennsylvania electronics business and its Hong Kong affiliate $5.8 million after the company voluntarily disclosed and admitted to illegally shipping controlled technology to China, including to military research institutes on the Entity List. The company, TE Connectivity Corporation, had “knowledge or reason to know” that the shipments violated U.S. export controls, BIS said, adding that its employees in China hid the true end-users and bypassed the company’s denied-party screening process.
The State Department this week published a final version of a rule to expand its regulatory definition of activities that don’t need a license because they don’t qualify as exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports. The rule, effective Sept. 16, is largely consistent with the proposed version, though the agency made changes to narrow its scope and make sure certain temporary imports will still require a license.
A new compliance note released by the Bureau of Industry and Security this week reveals the types of export violations that universities are most commonly disclosing to BIS, what led to those violations and the steps the academic institutions took to improve their compliance programs. The agency also issued a set of resources it said universities should use for compliance, including lists of risky parties maintained by both the government and outside organizations.
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Canada is considering new measures to strengthen its export controls, tariffs and other trade-related enforcement powers as it analyzes whether it has tools powerful enough to protect against threats to its economic and national security.
Silvaco Group, a California-based company that provides software solutions for semiconductor design, received a cautionary letter from the Office of Foreign Assets Control after disclosing possible sanctions violations involving Russia.
A new set of export controls on U.S. persons activities and other transactions could require “dramatic expansions” to some companies’ internal compliance programs, Akin Gump said this month, including additional compliance training, end-user certifications and greater due diligence of suppliers and customers.
Although U.S. officials say export controls on advanced semiconductors and related equipment are designed to slow Chinese technological innovation, those controls have so far hurt American toolmakers the most, a technology policy expert said.
The U.S., the U.K. and Canada last week issued new, coordinated sanctions against Belarus, targeting people, companies and entities that are helping Russia evade sanctions and export controls, funding Belarusian oligarchs tied to President Alexander Lukashenko or taking other steps to aid the Russian or Belarusian governments. The sanctions, which were announced days after a similar set of designations imposed by the EU (see 2408050008), were meant to mark the four-year anniversary of the “fraudulent” 2020 presidential election that helped Lukashenko keep power, the countries said in a joint statement.