The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published an interim final rule significantly reducing licensing requirements for Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) to foster defense trade and technological innovation. BIS is removing Commerce Control List (CCL) license requirements to allow Commerce-controlled military items, missile technology-related items, and hot section engine-related items to be exported or reexported to Australia and the UK without a license.  Similar relaxation by the State Department on ITAR controlled technology can be expected "over the course of the next 120 days," according to a statement.

Effective April 18th, a new rule from BIS amends the EAR to impose new controls restricting Iran’s access to additional low-level technology, including items manufactured outside the United States that are produced using U.S. technology. The rule also expands the scope of the Russia/Belarus/Temporarily occupied Crimea region of Ukraine Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rule and the Iran FDP rule: the items in supplement no. 7 to part 746 will now include the entirety of the ‘Common High Priority List’ (CHPL).

Wednesday Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), introduced bipartisan legislation to bolster the Export Enforcement Coordination Center—an interagency hub for information sharing and coordination among the key agencies responsible for export control enforcement. At a hearing Thursday, officials from Commerce, Justice and Homeland Security were unanimous in their call for resources from Congress.

 The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $68.9 billion in February, up $1.3 billion from $67.6 billion in January, revised. February exports were $263.0 billion, $5.8 billion more than January exports. February imports were $331.9 billion, $7.1 billion more than January imports.

Export Administration is getting a new leadership framework, including the creation of Deputy Assistant Secretary roles for Strategic Trade and Technology Security, under the oversight of the newly elevated Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Matt Borman. The Changes involve dividing EA’s functions into two primary channels: Strategic Trade, focusing on licensing, outreach, and training, and Technology Security, which encompasses defense industrial base (DIB) responsibilities, analysis, and regulatory work.

Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod announced four new Enforcement Initiatives at the 2024 Update Conference on Export Controls and Policy. In his plenary address, Mr. Axelrod introduced new guidance for the Freight Forwarder community, an updated compendium of enforcement examples, an antiboycott blacklist, and enhanced outreach to manufacturers and distributors of restricted good discovered on the battlefield in Ukraine.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security 2024 Update Conference kicked off Wednesday to a full house in Washington, with over 1,100 attendees registered and many breakout sessions extended to overflow rooms with video feeds. While Commerce Secretary Gina Raimonda was unable to attend in person, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez greeted attendees with a recap of the work undertaken since the last conference in 2022, and insights on where things are headed. 

The Commerce Department has announced significant updates to its antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) regulations. In voluminous revisions to the proposed rule of May 2023, Commerce is revising some of its procedures, codifying certain areas of its practice, and enhancing certain areas of its methodologies and analyses to address price and cost distortions, as well as certain countervailable subsidies, in different capacities.

Rep.Mike Gallagher (R-WI) the 40 year old former Marine Intelligence officer with a PhD in international relations will leave the House of Representatives after the Easter Recess. Gallagher has found himself at odds with mainstream Republicans, angering his caucus last month by refusing to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. When Gallagher steps down, the Republican majority will be  217-213, meaning that Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to lose one vote in order to pass legislation if Democrats remain united in opposition.

Nothwithstanding a doubled caseload, antiquated systems, and flat budget for the past ten years, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has been keeping pace, Undersecretary for Industry and Security Alan Estevez told a congressional panel Wednesday. "BIS has been asked to do more in an era of strategic competition where economic statecraft is increasingly central to U.S. interests and strategy. We have risen to every challenge that we have been asked to take on."

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released a final rule to impose additional restrictions under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) on persons identified under fourteen sanctions programs, on the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List) maintained by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). “Today’s action will further our already strong coordination with the Treasury Department to prevent foreign actors from obtaining the items and financing they seek to conduct activities that threaten U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez.

Washington, D.C.  – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), Ranking Member Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific Chairwoman Young Kim …

Despite a board of directors rich with boldfaced Washington names, Lexmark parent Ninestar corporation appears unlikely to break free of its designation as an employer of modern slavery under the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act. Last week Judge Gary Katzmann denied Ninestar’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction staying the Listing Decision.  

A federal grand jury indicted a Chinese national, charging him with four counts of theft of trade secrets in connection with an alleged plan to steal from Google LLC (Google) proprietary information related to artificial intelligence (AI) technology. According to the indictment, returned on March 5, Linwei Ding, aka Leon Ding, 38, a national of the People’s Republic of China and resident of Newark, California, transferred sensitive Google trade secrets and other confidential information from Google’s network to his personal account while secretly affiliating himself with PRC-based companies in the AI industry. Ding was arrested March 6th.

The Departments of Justice, Commerce, and Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, have issued a Tri-Seal Compliance Note: Obligations of foreign-based persons to comply with U.S. sanctions and export control laws. The Note highlights the applicability of U.S. sanctions and export control laws to persons and entities located abroad, as well as the enforcement mechanisms that are available for the U.S. government to hold non-U.S. persons accountable for violations of such laws, including criminal prosecution.

The Boeing Company will make three $9 million payments to the government to settle a pattern of material violations of export control law, including unauthorized exports of USML controlled technical data, unauthorized exports of defense articles, and Unauthorized Exports Resulting from Fabricated Permanent Export Licenses. The company agreed to name a Designated Official to head a review of the firms compliance and to spend at least $24 million on consultants, auditors and training.

Citing the Chinese government's broad authority to access and control the "vast amounts of data" generated by by chinese vehicles and components, the US Department of Commerce is preparing rules to bar trading with Chinese Automakers and suppliers of advanced componentry.  Commerce has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking public comment to inform the potential development of regulations to secure and safeguard the Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) supply chain for connected vehicles (CVs).  

Joining British and European allies, the US imposed a further raft of sanctions on Russia and her enablers. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning almost 300 individuals and entities. This is the largest number of sanctions imposed since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. State is designating three Government of Russia officials in connection with Aleksey Navalny’s death; together, Treasury and State are sanctioning over 500 targets. The Department of Commerce is also adding more than 90 companies to the Entity List.

The White house announced initiatives to improve the cyber security of the US Port infrastructire, with enhanced authorities for the Coast Guard to inspect vessels and write minimum cybersecurity rules.   Additionally, the administration will invest over $20 billion to subsidize the manufacture of cranes in the US and Korea, to reduce a dependance on Chinese supply. There are no plans to replace the over 200 Chinese cranes already in place.

Nearly $500,000 of forfeited proceeds of an illicit machine tool sale to Russian buyers will be used to support a drone-based program to assess the damage Russian aggression has done to Ukraine’s electrical distribution and transmission infrastructure. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Estonian Secretary General Tõnis Saar announced  the transfer at the Munich Security Conference Saturday Feb 17.