BIS Working on Guidance for Huawei Restrictions, Seeks New Export Control Candidates, Official Says

The Bureau of Industry and Security is preparing industry guidance for its August restrictions on Huawei, including changes to the foreign direct product rule (see 2008170029), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Matt Borman said. He said BIS will issue a series of frequently asked questions similar to its “fairly extensive” FAQs issued in June for new licensing restrictions for military-related exports (see 2006290045). Borman did not say when they will be released.

Speaking Sept. 17 during BIS's Material and Equipment Technical Advisory Committee meeting, Borman also urged METAC members and industry to provide input on the agency’s August pre-rule for foundational technologies (see 2008260045), to help inform which items the agency should target for control. He also said BIS is looking for more candidates for emerging technology controls: It wants to get back into the “process” of using industry comments to develop its own controls. He said BIS has recently focused on adopting controls already agreed to at multilateral export control groups, such as the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group (see 2009100027 and 2006160034).

Those “didn't go through a public comment period, but I would like to get us back into that sequence,” Borman said, adding that there may be “slices” of technologies to control in the biotechnology and advanced material sectors. “The more input we can get on these things, the better.” He urged METAC to help BIS “think through” new controls.

Borman said BIS’ Chemical and Biological Controls Division and its Sensors and Aviation Division have sped up reviews of licenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as thermal imaging cameras and technology to develop vaccines. “They’ve done a terrific job working with their interagency partners to really expedite reviews of licenses that are COVID-related,” he said. “I think that's been a real success.”