Switzerland is looking to revise its export control laws to allow certain countries to ship Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Jan. 15. The change could eliminate a Swiss requirement that keeps countries from shipping certain Swiss items to certain destinations without approval from the country’s government, the report said. The revisions could be the country’s “first substantial move to soften the restrictive law shaped by its longstanding tradition of neutrality,” the report said, and comes amid “international criticism of its restrictive arms export law.” The measure will face scrutiny by the Swiss parliament’s upper and lower houses before it can be finalized.

Dutch officials continued to say the country isn't yet fully on board with recent U.S. chip export controls against China (see 2212080012), saying the Netherlands won’t succumb to American peer pressure. Prime Minister Mark Rutte, ahead of a Jan. 17 meeting with President Joe Biden, said the country is working methodically through potential new restrictions.

The European Union updated its dual-use export control list this week to align the bloc’s restrictions with decisions taken by “international non-proliferation regimes and export control arrangements” through December 2021. Among the changes are new controls on certain electronics, semiconductors and computers, including “Electronic Computer-Aided Design (ECAD) used in the design process of Gate-All-Around Field-Effect Transistor (GAAFET).” The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security similarly imposed new controls last year on certain ECAD software after the restrictions were agreed to at the 2021 Wassenaar Arrangement (see 2208120038).

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura discussed export control and semiconductor issues during a meeting last week. The two spoke about the “importance of working together to promote and protect critical and emerging technologies, including through [research and development] and export controls, so as to support our technological competitiveness and to address our shared security interests,” Commerce said in a brief readout of the meeting. Executives from IBM and Japan's Rapidus also took part in the meeting “to share an overview of their ongoing collaboration on semiconductor R&D.” The meeting took place as Commerce solicits public comments, due Jan. 17, on priorities for export control cooperation with Japan (see 2211300003).

Companies should closely review the State Department's recently released compliance program guidelines to make sure their own programs are up to date, Hogan Lovells said in a December alert. The firm also said the guidelines, which outlined key elements of an effective compliance program (see 2212060015), give the defense industry, universities and others involved in activities controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations “insight into the regulator’s compliance expectations.” Because the guidelines are similar to those issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, “organizations should expand their policies and procedures to confirm that these elements are captured if they engage in ITAR regulated activities,” the law firm said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security on Dec. 20 completed an interagency review that could implement certain export control decisions agreed to at the multilateral Australia Group and place new controls on certain marine toxins, plant pathogens and biological equipment (see 2212090004). BIS sent the rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Dec. 7 after previously sending it to OIRA Sept. 9, where it was completed with some changes (see 2209120002). The rule, if published, could finalize May-proposed controls on four dual-use biological toxins that BIS said can be weaponized to kill people or animals.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security is preparing to add China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. and 35 other Chinese companies to its Entity List as early as this week, Bloomberg reported Dec. 13. YMTC and other companies have been at risk of being added to the Entity List since being placed on the BIS Unverified List in October. Under a new policy, BIS can transfer entities from the UVL to the more restrictive Entity List if they don’t cooperate with a U.S. end-use check within 60 days ​​(see 2210070006). A BIS spokesperson didn’t comment.

The U.K.’s Export Control Joint Unit posted several new guidance documents to help exporters of controlled items develop compliance procedures, pass audits and meet license obligations. The documents include a compliance code of practice for export licensing, a checklist of internal export control compliance procedures and set of export control compliance case studies.

The U.K.’s Department for International Trade this week made changes to its export control regulations. The changes include a correction to a “mistake made by an earlier amending instrument” and the removal of Russia as a “permitted destination for the Retained General Export Authorisations.”

Allied export control authorities should be more nimble, harmonized and coordinated to maximize their effectiveness, particularly around Russia restrictions, said Kevin Wolf, a former senior U.S. export control official. In written comments last week to the U.K. Parliament’s arms export control committees, Wolf also said the U.K. and other countries can improve their export enforcement efforts against Russia, including by creating incentives for companies to “enhance” their compliance programs, dedicating more resources to study Russian sanctions evasion and working together to create a “standard structure of export control violations.”