A new strategy by the Bureau of Industry and Security to add a set of addresses -- instead of company names -- to the Entity List could lead to screening challenges for exporters, industry officials told the agency this week.
BIS Entity List
The Entity List is a BIS trade restriction list consisting of entities deemed a national security concern and therefore subject to license requirements for exporting specified items, such as some U.S. technologies. Inclusion on the Entity List is more severe than being placed on the Unverified List.
The nearly 700 companies that the Bureau of Industry and Security has flagged for potentially sending export controlled goods to Russia include foreign suppliers in China, Turkey, India and others across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, according to a list obtained by Export Compliance Daily.
Technology companies, trade groups, think tanks and researchers urged the government to be cautious as it evaluates its semiconductor-related export controls and prepares new ones, warning that misguided restrictions could cede American technology leadership to China, hurt the competitiveness of U.S. companies and raise the complexity of an already fraught compliance landscape.
A 2022 Bureau of Industry and Security policy change has continued to lead to improved Chinese cooperation with BIS end-use checks, an agency official said Jan. 23.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week removed three companies from the Unverified List after it was able to successfully complete end-use checks.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week added 13 Chinese companies to its Unverified List after it was unable to verify the “legitimacy and reliability” of the entities through end-use checks, including their ability to responsibly receive controlled U.S. exports. If BIS is unable to complete an end-use check on those companies within 60 days, it can move them to the more restrictive Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added 13 Chinese technology companies to its Unverified List, it said in a final rule effective Dec. 19. BIS said it hasn’t been able to verify the “legitimacy and reliability” of the entities through end-use checks, including their ability to responsibly receive controlled U.S. exports. All export license exceptions involving those parties will be suspended, and exporters must file certain Electronic Export Information and obtain a statement from any party listed on the UVL before proceeding with certain exports.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week removed four Chinese companies from the Unverified List after it was able to successfully complete end-use checks.
The Bureau of Industry and Security and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network this week issued another set of export control evasion red flags for financial service firms along with a new key term that banks and others can include in their suspicious activity reports to FinCEN. The new term will “enable even more BIS investigative and Entity List actions against” people and companies looking to evade U.S. export controls, said Matthew Axelrod, BIS’ top export enforcement official.
The Biden administration needs to soon update its China-related chip export controls and apply “full blocking sanctions” to Huawei and China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., top House Republicans recently said in a letter to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Those measures and others will address what the lawmakers said has been a ”failure” by the administration and the Bureau of Industry and Security to properly enforce the Oct. 7 chip restrictions, which placed new license requirements on a host of chip-related exports and activities involving China.