The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, in preparation for its April Special 301 Report on countries that don't provide adequate protection of intellectual property rights, is seeking comments as well as requests to testify at a Feb. 21 hearing.

The State Department this month has so far approved four potential military sales worth nearly $3 billion combined, including one to help give training to Australia as part of the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) partnership.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has released the beta version of its new website as it looks to officially replace its current site, which officials have called “dated” (see 2310310059). The agency said the beta site is an “in-progress version that incorporates new tools to access and use BIS regulations” but results “from this beta site may be inaccurate or incomplete and should not be relied upon for compliance with the” Export Administration Regulations.

USDA last week urged U.S. exporters to review the U.K.’s post-Brexit system of import controls on animals, animal products, plants and plant products before it goes into force Jan. 31 for the EU and April 30 for the rest of the world. The new system will introduce new export health certificate requirements for certain U.K. imports, the agency’s Foreign Agricultural Service said, and some import checks may be conducted remotely through new trusted trader schemes. The agency also said the U.K. is hoping the new regime will “reduce routine checks for some” low-risk products.

The Bureau of Industry and Security’s recent increase in enforcement of anti-boycott regulations signals the agency will “continue to be active in this space,” and companies may want to review their compliance programs, Arnold & Porter said in a Nov. 28 client advisory. “It may be time for U.S. companies and their foreign subsidiaries -- especially those conducting business in or involving the Middle East region -- to establish, review, and/or update their antiboycott compliance programs,” the firm said.

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a final rule this week to delay the deadline for newly created companies to comply with its new beneficial ownership information reporting requirements (see 2308160023). The change, proposed in September, extends that deadline from 30 days to 90 days after the company is created, and it applies only to companies created or registered on or after Jan. 1, 2024, and before Jan. 1, 2025. FinCEN said the extension will give those entities more time to understand the new reporting obligations, which aims to provide more information to law enforcement and national security agencies as they look to prevent sanctioned parties and others from hiding money or property in the U.S. The rule takes effect Jan. 1.

The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued a reminder to industry that on Nov. 18 it officially migrated to the “FedRAMP High instance of a multifactor authentication solution” in its Defense Export Control and Compliance System to improve security (see 2310170005). All users who didn't log into DECCS before Nov, 18 will need to contact the DDTC Help Desk to have their account password reset, the agency said. "Once reset, users will be able to log into DECCS as normal."

The State Department approved a potential $52.1 million military sale to South Korea, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 15. The sale includes “AIM-9X Block II and Block II+ (Plus) Sidewinder Missiles” and related equipment, and the principal contractor will be Raytheon Missiles and Defense.

The State Department approved a potential $650 million military sale to South Korea, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 14. The sale includes “Standard Missile 6 Block I (SM-6 Blk I)” and related equipment, and the principal contractor will be Raytheon Missiles and Defense.

The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has resolved an outage that impacted its customer service email address last week, the agency said, adding that it’s processing emails sent during the outage in the order they were received.