Taiwan will soon expand its export controls against Russia and Belarus to align its restrictions with the U.S. and other trading partners, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a notice last week. The controls will apply to the list of 45 Harmonized System codes targeted by the U.S., the EU and others, which includes common high-priority items Russia is seeking to import for its military (see 2309200031 and 2310020023).
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review that could make certain export control changes on items destined to Nicaragua. The rule, sent for review Dec. 20, would revise the export, reexport and in-country transfer controls for Nicaragua under the Export Administration Regulations “consistent with U.S. policy.”
The State Department completed an interagency review Dec. 15 for a final rule that could make revisions to the U.S. Munitions List. The rule would amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations by removing certain high-energy storage capacitors from USML Category XI and “clearly identify” the capacitors that remain controlled in that category. The rule is expected to finalize an April interim final rule that removed export controls from certain high-energy storage capacitors (see 2304260017). The agency first sent the rule for review Oct. 13 (see 2310160008).
An industry advisory committee is planning to push the Bureau of Industry and Security to release guidance on how companies should be applying the agency’s various foreign direct product rules.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week officially extended the public comment deadline for its two China-related chip export control rules released in October (see 2312120055). The deadline, initially set for Dec. 18, was extended to Jan. 17. BIS said the extension will give industry and others more time to review the interim final rules and “benefit from the significant amount of public outreach that BIS is conducting on the rules prior to preparing and submitting their comments on the IFRs.”
Chinese chip designer Brite Semiconductor is partly owned by a company on the Entity List yet still buys sensitive U.S. technology from two California software companies and receives funding from a U.S. venture capital firm backed by Wells Fargo, Reuters reported Dec. 13.
The Bureau of Industry and Security recently published an advisory opinion that offers guidance on its genetic elements export controls under Export Control Classification Number 1C353.
The multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement this month posted a summary of export control changes made during the group’s Nov. 30 plenary meeting, covering editorial changes, clarifications and updated control parameters for various categories under its list of dual-use goods and technologies. Wassenaar’s plenary chair said member states adopted new controls involving equipment used to make certain electronic components, updated existing controls for “high-performance electronic equipment,” and clarified language surrounding sonar technology, optical sensors, rocket propulsion technologies, encryption and decryption technologies, and communication interception technologies, among other updates.
American chip designer Nvidia is working with the Biden administration to make sure its products comply with U.S. export restrictions, CEO Jensen Huang said during a news conference in Singapore this week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security's addition of 42 entities to the Entity List this week “sends a clear message” that the U.S. and its allies “are watching and will act forcefully” in response to Russian export control evasion, BIS official Thea Kendler said. “Our controls are in place to protect the national security of the United States, and bad actors that violate them will be held accountable.”