The leaders of the House Select Committee on China asked five large semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME) firms Nov. 7 to provide data about their China sales, saying the information would help lawmakers better understand the “flow of SME” to the Asian country and its contribution to China’s “rapid buildout of its semiconductor manufacturing industrial base.”
U.S. mobile phone parts producer Lumentum is under investigation by the Bureau of Industry and Security and DOJ for potentially violating U.S. export controls against Huawei, according to corporate filings.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., asked PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) last week to explain whether the U.K.-based consulting firm, which has a large presence in the U.S., has provided consulting services for China-based clients that were on the Defense Department’s 1260H list of Chinese military companies, the Treasury Department’s Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List or the Commerce Department’s Entity List. Rubio included his question in a letter raising concerns about PwC’s ties to China. PwC had no immediate comment on the letter.
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Banks that choose not to follow a set of export compliance best practices recently issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security may be leaving themselves “wide open” to possible penalties under U.S. export regulations, a senior BIS official said, especially if they don’t have other compliance safeguards in place.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined multinational chip maker GlobalFoundries $500,000 after it illegally exported semiconductor wafers to a Entity Listed firm with ties to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), China’s flagship chip manufacturing company.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is imposing export controls on nine “key” precursors that Russia has used in chemical weapons against Ukraine, the agency said in a final rule that becomes effective Nov. 1. The rule also updates certain language in BIS regulations that it said will reduce the “licensing burden” for certain government entities located in Russia and Belarus, and it clarifies the scope of the agency's foreign direct product rules.
The U.S. this week unveiled new trade and financial restrictions against people and companies across more than 17 countries for helping Russia evade sanctions or for supporting the country’s military, adding nearly 400 to the Treasury Department’s sanctions list and more than 40 to the Commerce Department’s Entity List. Another move by Commerce will tighten existing controls on nearly 50 entities that it said are procuring U.S.-branded microelectronics for Russia.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add more than 40 entries to the Entity List for shipping sensitive items to Russia or for other activities that support Russia’s military, and it will tighten restrictions on nearly 50 entities already on the list that BIS said are procuring U.S.-branded microelectronics for Russia, the agency said in a final rule released Oct. 30. BIS also plans to introduce new chemical weapons-related controls for certain chemical precursors that Russia has used in chemical weapons against Ukraine, it said in a separate final rule.
While the Biden and Trump administrations both frequently imposed financial sanctions and export controls on China, the Biden administration has made greater use of two key tools: the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List and the Commerce Department’s Entity List. That's according to a new report by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).