The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security renewed an export denial order for Mahan Airways because the airline continues to violate the order and the Export Administration Regulations, BIS said in a notice. The Iranian airline has been on the banned list since 2008, and the notice renewed the ban for 180 days, BIS said. Since the order was last renewed June 5 (see 1906060054), the U.S. has discovered that the airline is now operating a U.S.-origin Boeing 747 between Iranian airports in Tehran, Kish Island and Mashhad. The aircraft “appears to be” one of three planes Mahan illegally acquired through Blue Airways of Armenia and United Kingdom-based Balli Group, BIS said. In addition, Mahan was involved in the illegal export of a U.S.-origin atomic absorption spectrometer from the U.S. to Iran via the United Arab Emirates in November. The spectrometer is subject to the EAR, and the export violated the terms of Mahan’s denial order, BIS said.

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security made three technical corrections to its November notice that added 22 entities to its Entity List (see 1911120025). The corrections add dates and change the wording of entries for Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

A U.S. defense technology manufacturer said it takes U.S. export controls “very seriously” and vowed to improve its compliance after it settled for $1 million with the State Department for export violations. The company, AeroVironment, illegally exported goods and technical data in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (see 1911200054). “We understand the importance of protecting our technology while making it available to help protect our allies,” Melissa Brown, AeroVironment’s vice president and general counsel, said in a Nov. 21 statement. “We will continue to enhance our export controls and appreciate the Department of State’s acknowledgement of the corrective actions we have already taken.”

Due to an upcoming change, companies should make sure they have written policies for complying with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations before registering, renewing or amending their ITAR registrations, according to a Nov. 13 post from Export Solutions. That change relates to the submission of ITAR registrations as part of the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls’ effort to update its processes for administration of the ITAR, the post said. The change will “most likely” take effect before 2020, Export Solutions said.

The U.S. and Great Britain are hosting the International Strategic Trade Controls and Border Security Conference in Edinburgh this week, at which more than 85 countries will discuss “dual-use and conventional arms policy, licensing, and enforcement to promote” to improve trade controls, the State Department said. The conference is focusing on chemical weapons, technology and equipment proliferation, the State Department said, and will stress the importance of updating controls on chemicals. The countries will also discuss challenges of “targeting, identifying, inspecting, and interdicting” illegal chemical shipments.

It is “impossible” for U.S. exporters to fully comply with Commerce Department restrictions on transfers within China because Chinese courts do not enforce the restrictions, according to an Oct. 13 post by Harris Bricken.

Jaguar Imports of Orlando, Florida, will pay a $98,000 civil penalty to the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security as part a settlement with the agency over unlicensed exports to Colombia, Mexico and Canada, BIS said in an Oct. 9 notice. The company is said to have illegally exported pepper spray, stun guns, handcuffs and police batons to the countries between 2015 and 2017, BIS said. The items were classified on the Commerce Control List and valued at about $35,355, the agency said. As part of the settlements Jaguar Imports "shall not take any action or make or permit to be made any public statement, directly or indirectly, denying the allegations." If the company fails to comply with the agreement, Jaguar Imports may see its export privileges denied, the agency said. The BIS order is effective Oct. 9, it said.

An interim final rule involving International Traffic in Arms Regulations definitions for activities that aren’t classified as exports, re-exports or transfers is under review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the OIRA said in a Sept. 10 notice. The rule aims to amend the ITAR to create definitions for several activities, including launching items into space, “providing technical data” to U.S. people either in the U.S. or in a “single country abroad,” and moving defense goods between U.S. states, according to the OIRA. The definitions would also remove requirements related to the “electronic transmission and storage of unclassified technical data via foreign communications infrastructure when the data is secured sufficiently to prevent access by foreign persons,” the OIRA said.

A U.S. website infrastructure company said it may have violated U.S. sanctions and export reporting requirements, according to its regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cloudflare, based in California, told the SEC it voluntarily disclosed possible export and sanctions violations to the Bureau of Industry and Security and the Office of Foreign Assets Control this year. The violations included submitting “incorrect information” about hardware exports to Commerce and receiving payments from people and entities on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List.

President Donald Trump’s order to reduce the number of advisory committees will not affect Commerce’s committees involved with export controls reform, a top Commerce official confirmed. The executive order, issued in June, directed the executive branch's departments and agencies to cut down their advisory boards by one-third by Sept. 30. Speaking during a Sept. 5 Materials Technical Advisory Committee, Rich Ashooh, Commerce’s assistant secretary for export administration, confirmed that several Commerce committees dealing with export controls are safe because they are authorized by (see 1908080033) the Export Control Reform Act.