The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is looking to speed up its processing of advisory opinion requests, a government official said during the Bureau of Industry and Security's annual conference last week.
Ian Cohen
Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
A Bureau of Industry and Security rule released last week (see 2403290060) that updated and corrected portions of the agency’s October semiconductor export controls (see 2310170055) also added a new license exception and offered clarifications to export guidance issued by BIS over the last year. The changes take effect April 4, and comments are due by April 29.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is working on a host of proposed or final regulations that could be published in the next few months, officials said last week, including revisions to its defense services controls and an exemption for certain defense trade with Australia and the U.K.
The Bureau of Industry and Security completed nearly a quarter of its end-use checks with a “less than favorable outcome” in FY 2023, a Commerce Department official said, meaning the agency couldn’t verify those end-users as a reliable recipient of U.S.-origin export-controlled goods.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is looking to expand its validated end-user program, which it hopes will allow more U.S. exporters to sell products to credible foreign customers without having to first apply for a license, said Thea Kendler, the agency’s assistant secretary for export administration.
A U.S. government official didn’t say for sure whether the Treasury Department will allow a general license involving Venezuela’s state-owned energy company to expire next month, but suggested companies should expect it to lapse if the Venezuelan government doesn’t soon reverse its crackdown on political opposition members.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is expecting to soon finalize its proposed rule on License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization and is close to publishing new U.S. persons controls to restrict activities that support foreign military, security or intelligence agencies, said Thea Kendler, the agency’s assistant secretary for export administration.
The Census Bureau is hoping to figure out within the next several weeks whether it will eliminate an Automated Export System data element that collects redundant information on an export’s state of origin, a Commerce Department official said last week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week published an updated freight forwarder guidance, outlining forwarders’ compliance responsibilities, the red flags they should be monitoring and a set of best practices they should follow when they’re involved in an export. The agency also issued a new version of its “Don’t Let This Happen to You” document, which includes new summaries and case examples of recent export control investigations.
A new list published last week by the Bureau of Industry and Security names more than 150 entities that have asked companies to boycott goods from certain countries. BIS hopes the list helps “raise awareness” among companies, financial institutions, freight forwarders and others about where boycott requests may come from, allowing them to better comply with the agency’s anti-boycott regulations, said Matthew Axelrod, the BIS assistant secretary for export enforcement.