The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on multiple export control-related investigations that could soon lead to public penalties and criminal indictments, Commerce Department officials said last week. They also said BIS is doubling down on Iran-related enforcement as part of the Trump administration's renewed maximum pressure campaign against the country.
It’s still unclear how the Trump administration will approach the Bureau of Industry and Security's artificial intelligence diffusion rule or any of the agency’s recently published proposed or interim final rules that haven’t yet taken effect, a Commerce Department official said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has begun to experience a significant decline in export license applications for Australia and the U.K. as a result of a rule it issued last year to reduce defense-related licensing requirements for those countries, a Commerce Department official said March 19.
A new automated tool that allows the Bureau of Industry and Security to screen license applications against certain U.S. government intelligence information could lead to an uptick in license denials, a Commerce Department official said.
The EU plans to update its export controls to make them more effective amid rapid geopolitical and technological change, a government official said March 19.
The Bureau of Industry and Security plans later this month to add 30 companies and remove 17 others from its boycott requester list, a list of entities that have asked other companies to boycott goods from certain countries in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (see 2412300003). The change will bring the total number of companies on the list to 165, a Commerce Department official said at the BIS annual update conference this week. The official said the list has “driven foreign parties to change their behavior by” convincing them to eliminate boycott language from their business documents.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week updated its website with a new page that lists all past BIS-related rules and notices published in the Federal Register; new tools to search the Commerce Control List; and more, a Commerce Department official said at the agency’s annual update conference. The official said the updates are the “first phase of our ongoing enhancement and migration efforts to transition information from the” old BIS website to the new one (see 2312040016).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is considering expanding its statute of limitations for certain export control violations, a Commerce Department official said.
The U.S. government’s recently revised policy guidance for missile technology exports gives the Bureau of Industry and Security more flexibility to approve export licenses to support space launch vehicle (SLV) programs, a Commerce Department official said March 19.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is hoping to publish new guidance to clarify due diligence expectations for companies subject to the agency’s recent semiconductor-related export control rules, Commerce Department officials said this week. They also said the agency is hoping to expand its list of approved designers that will benefit from some licensing carve-outs for certain chip exports.