Companies could face a variety of compliance challenges if the U.S. expands its foreign direct product rule to capture exports to Russia, Cooley's Annie Froehlich, an export control lawyer, said in a Feb. 3 Atlantic Council blog post. The U.S. has reportedly considered using the rule if Russia further invades Ukraine, which could limit Russia’s ability to import certain foreign-produced chips, integrated circuits and microprocessors, the post said. “If regulatory actions are imposed, assessing exposure and implementing appropriate compliance responses will be challenging.”

Crowell & Moring has seen “mixed results” and some longer response times from the Bureau of Industry and Security for license applications captured by the agency’s military end-use and end-user rule, said Brian McGrath, a trade lawyer with the firm. But overall, McGrath said the agency has been helpful when responding to exporter questions about the rule, which imposed more due-diligence requirements on shipments that could be sent to military end users or used for military end uses in certain countries (see 2102190042).

The U.S. will penalize China if it tries to help Russia evade impending U.S. export controls that would be imposed if President Vladimir Putin invades Ukraine, the State Department said. Those measures would be coordinated with allies, spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Feb. 3.

After a thermal imaging industry official this week said the Commerce Department hasn’t significantly updated its export controls surrounding infrared technologies since 2005 (see 2201260047), an agency spokesperson pointed to two recent regulatory actions that they said have updated controls.

Out of all the government’s export control regulations, two aerospace industry officials said they are spending the most time trying to comply with the Bureau of Industry and Security’s military end-user and end-use rule.

The Bureau of Industry and Security should update its export controls surrounding infrared technologies to allow U.S. companies to better compete with foreign firms, said Mike Muench, CEO of Seek Thermal, a thermal imaging company. Muench, speaking during a Jan. 25 meeting of the Commerce Department’s Sensors and Instrumentation Technical Advisory Committee, said BIS hasn’t “significantly” updated its infrared technology controls since 2005, when the infrared sector was dramatically different. “That was several generations ago, relatively speaking, in the technology space,” Muench said. “We really believe it's time for us to address some of these changes to allow U.S. firms to be more competitive.”

The Commerce Department’s Sensors and Instrumentation Technical Advisory Committee submitted three Wasseanar proposals to Commerce to consider for the 2022 cycle, including two updates to previously submitted proposals. The proposals, which involve Category 6 items (sensors and lasers) on the Commerce Control List, include diode laser bar controls (6A005.d.1.c.1), an updated proposal for green lasers (6.A.5.b.3.a.2) and an updated proposal for certain semiconductor lasers (6.A.5.d.1.a), the committee said during a Jan. 25 meeting.

Three export controls and trade experts submitted a 40-page paper this month to help guide the work of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council’s export control working group (see 2111290014). The paper -- submitted by the Center for a New American Security's Emily Kilcrease and Akin Gump lawyers Kevin Wolf and Jasper Helder -- includes a broad outline of the purpose of export controls and the U.S. and European Union legal authorities available to implement them. It also describes steps the U.S. and the EU would need to take to implement new, coordinated controls and a set of questions to consider while developing the controls, including whether the U.S. and the EU will push for better alignment across license exceptions, encryption controls, cyber-surveillance controls and enforcement.

The Commerce Department should publish a list of controlled emerging and foundational technologies 90 days after the Senate confirmation of its Bureau of Industry and Security leader, China Tech Threat's Future of BIS said. Strand Consult operates China Tech Threat, which advocates for stronger export controls on China. Despite congressional pressure (see 2111170064), BIS has repeatedly said it doesn’t plan to publish an exhaustive list of controlled emerging and foundational technologies but rather will issue controls on a continuous basis. A BIS spokesperson didn’t comment.

The U.S. is working with Japan to build a multilateral forum to control exports of advanced technologies, which would be specifically aimed at limiting shipments to China’s military, The Japan News said Jan. 10. The forum would also include Europe and other like-minded countries and could restrict sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, quantum cryptography, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, the report said. The two sides are “currently specifying the fields to be subject to regulation” and hope to “establish a new framework for a small number of countries with advanced technology.” The White House didn’t comment.