The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed its temporary export control on certain artificial intelligence software as it prepares to make the classification permanent, BIS said in a notice. The temporary control -- first issued in January 2020 (see 2001030024), extended last year (see 2101050018) and renewed for a second time this week -- placed unilateral restrictions on geospatial imagery software by adding it to the 0Y521 Temporary Export Control Classification Numbers Series. The latest one-year renewal is effective Jan. 6.
The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports again postponed a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers (see 2110280031), the two ports announced Jan. 3. The ports originally planned to begin imposing the fee Nov. 15, but have postponed it each week since. The latest extension delays the effective date until Jan. 10, when the situation will be reassessed.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined Airbnb just over $91,000 for violating U.S. sanctions against Cuba, the agency said Jan. 3. OFAC said the company’s subsidiary, Airbnb Payments, illegally processed payments for guests traveling in Cuba and failed to keep certain records related to those payments.
The State Department published its fall 2021 regulatory agenda, including a new mention of a final rule that will add and remove certain export controls from the U.S. Munitions List, including some emerging technologies. The rule would revise and exclude some entries on the USML that don’t “warrant inclusion,” the agency said, and also add other entries for certain critical and emerging technologies. The changes include revisions to specific paragraphs in the USML and their corresponding parts in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule will also look to “limit the items categorized in USML Category XXI by updating the appropriate USML paragraph,” the agency said. The State Department plans to issue the rule in July.
China this week released its first export control white paper, which includes an overview of its recently created export control law (see 2010190033), how it has sought to improve and coordinate its export restrictions with trading partners and its expectations for industry compliance. The paper also describes some new export control initiatives, including a broader enforcement approach and potential revisions to China’s export control list.
The Federal Maritime Commission issued three new policy statements this week to provide the shipping industry more guidance on its complaint process and clarify how it will address cases of carrier retaliation. The shipper-friendly policy statements, originally recommended by Commissioner Rebecca Dye in July (see 2107290021), describe how the FMC defines who can allege complaints, how the commission approaches reparations for attorney fees and a broad outline of who can bring forward a retaliation complaint.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a proposed rule this week that would require U.S. industry to shift from manual to electronic reporting for certain civil nuclear fuel cycle-related activities. The rule, released Dec. 28, would specifically amend BIS’s Additional Protocol (AP) regulations -- an agreement between the U.S. and the International Atomic Energy Agency -- by replacing the existing manual reporting and processing procedures with a requirement to submit reports online through the Additional Protocol Reporting System (APRS).
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach again postponed a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers, the two ports announced Dec. 27. The ports originally planned to begin imposing the fee Nov. 15, but have postponed it several times (see 2111030027 and 2110280031). The latest extension delays the effective date until Jan 3.
Rockley Photonics, a California photonics-based health monitoring and communications solutions company, won’t follow through with a sale to Hengtong, a Chinese power and fiber optic cable manufacturer, following Hengtong's addition to the U.S. Entity List this month. Rockley suggested the sale, which it described as a “data-communications-related technical sale,” could be subject to the Export Administration Regulations and require a Bureau of Industry and Security license.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined TD Bank about $115,000 for two separate instances of sanctions violations, the agency said Dec. 23. The bank illegally processed nearly 1,500 transactions that violated U.S. sanctions against North Korea and maintained two accounts for more than four years for a U.S. resident who was sanctioned under Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations. OFAC said both cases resulted from “multiple sanctions compliance breakdowns,” including human errors and screening deficiencies.