The Trump administration will likely continue to impose restrictions on transactions with large Chinese technology companies, particularly as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. places more scrutiny on Chinese investments involving personal data, trade lawyers said. Industry should prepare for more announcements similar to President Donald Trump’s executive orders on TikTok and WeChat (see 2008070024), one lawyer said.
BIS Advisory Opinion
Exporters may request advisory opinions from BIS to determine whether an export, service or other activity requires a license under the Export Administration Regulations. BIS releases select advisory opinions on its website that it judges may be of interest to the public.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 27-31 in case you missed them.
The Bureau of Industry and Security stressed the importance of increased due diligence measures in a guidance (see 2004280052) on its new export licensing restrictions for military-related exports, saying industry must be careful to avoid shipping goods to entities with any nexus to the Chinese military. The newly issued guidance touches on due diligence best practices and addresses shipments to distributors and universities but does little to address the “unmanageable” compliance burdens industry said the rule will cause (see 2006150031, 2006180035 and 2005050035). BIS also did not grant a request by at least 20 industry groups to delay the rule’s effective date (see 2006150031). The rule took effect June 29.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is becoming progressively worse at addressing specific sanctions questions from industry stakeholders, leaving queries unanswered and causing companies to hesitate before completing transactions, according to Nixon Peabody trade lawyer Alexandra Lopez-Casero. Companies can employ certain strategies to get responses from OFAC, Lopez-Casero said, but OFAC is typically not as responsive and helpful as other agencies, such as the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security.
Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security issued a guidance on Aug. 20 about the disclosure of technology or software subject to export controls “between and among members of standards setting or development groups or bodies.” BIS said it issued the guidance after receiving “a number of questions” about the temporary general license for Huawei and the Chinese company’s addition to the Entity List. The guidance tries to clarify which activities are prohibited among standards organizations when discussing Huawei and its Entity Listing.