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.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is reviewing public comments on two rules it proposed last year to expand U.S. persons controls, a Commerce Department official said March 18.
The congressionally mandated National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology is expected to include recommendations on export control policy in its upcoming report to Congress, a Commerce Department official said March 18.
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The Bureau of Industry and Security hasn't yet lifted all the licensing holds that began for export applications in early February, a Commerce Department official said this week, although the agency is hoping to make progress on the holds soon.
The Trump administration plans to substantially increase fines against companies that violate export controls, including against China, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said this week. He also said the U.S. is planning to incorporate export control commitments into free trade deal negotiations as a way to incentivize trading partners to better restrict their sensitive technologies.
OpenAI, Google and other leading technology companies and organizations urged the U.S. this month to rework the Biden administration’s artificial intelligence diffusion rule, saying it places too many restrictions on American firms and its trading partners.
Former U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan defended the Biden administration's final weeks of moves that imposed sanctions against Russia and export controls on China, saying they set up the current administration for success.
The Bureau of Industry and Security could face significant challenges imposing and enforcing export controls against China if the Trump administration continues to slash government workers and resources, particularly in the national security sphere, a technology policy researcher said in a new report. The report said the U.S. needs to continue investing in efforts to close export control loopholes that allow China to acquire advanced artificial intelligence chips, but it also said that even “extremely aggressive” controls are unlikely to give the U.S. a large lead in the AI race.
The Bureau of Industry and Security released a "preliminary" agenda for its update conference scheduled for next week. The agenda includes two plenary sessions, a panel on export enforcement, and breakout sessions covering various topics, including semiconductor export controls, "emerging technology and foreign technology analysis," end-use/end-user controls, AUKUS, export enforcement best practices, the Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services, a regulatory review, space controls, and the Defense Production Act. The agenda also includes a list of speakers, which includes senior officials from BIS, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the State Department and the Pentagon as well as government officials from Japan, South Korea and the EU. BIS said the agenda is subject to change.