The Bureau of Industry and Security this week renewed the temporary denial order (TDO) for three U.S. companies for their involvement in illegally exported technical drawings and blueprints to China (see 2206080068). The order, issued in June, was renewed for another 180 days, BIS said Dec. 5, partly because the agency found possible evidence of additional export violations.
Officials from the EU, the U.S., the U.K. and Japan met this week to discuss export controls against Russia and ways to expand existing restrictions to further damage Russia’s economy, said Denis Redonnet, the EU’s chief trade enforcement officer. Redonnet, speaking Dec. 6 at the EU’s annual export control forum, said the bloc used the forum as a backdrop to hold “bilateral, quad collective meetings” to look at “possible additional sanctions measures going forward” and to examine ways the countries can better enforce existing measures.
The U.K. is looking to expand its Russia sanctions to target additional services in a bid to further damage the country’s military and economy, said Ros Lynch, the U.K.’s deputy director for sanctions policy. Lynch, speaking during the EU’s annual export control forum this week, said the U.K. already has imposed restrictions on some legal advisory, engineering and consulting services (see 2210030016) but said more needs to be done, including by other G-7 countries.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 24 companies to the Entity List for participating in a range of illegal exports, including efforts to aid Russia’s military, supply export-controlled items to Iran or support Pakistan’s nuclear activities, the agency said in a final rule released Dec. 7. The additions include entities located in Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. BIS also removed one company from the Entity List.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls this week released its long-awaited updated compliance program guidelines (see 2211100023), which are intended to outline and detail “key elements” of an effective compliance program, the agency said. The 63-page document includes instructions on how to design a program for defense companies and universities that deal with items controlled on the U.S. Munitions List, as well as sections on recordkeeping, reporting, International Traffic in Arms Regulations training, risk assessment audits and more. DDTC stressed that “scope of ITAR activity in which different organizations engage varies substantially,” and each compliance program “should be tailored to address each organization’s ITAR-controlled activities, risk factors, and size.”
China has been more receptive to U.S. end-use checks on Chinese entities as a result of a Commerce Department policy change from October, Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said this week. Estevez also said he doesn’t expect any significant revisions to BIS’s most recent chip restrictions on China, and warned that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would spark new, strict U.S. export controls that would cause U.S. companies to lose “billions” of dollars in Chinese business.
The U.S. and the EU announced new export control initiatives during the Trade and Technology Council’s meetings this week, including a pilot program to better exchange information on dual-use export controls and a new effort to increase research collaboration on quantum technologies. But the U.S. didn’t use the meetings to try to convince European officials to push its firms, such as ASML, to adopt more stringent chip export controls against China, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.
U.S.-based Omni Logistics violated shipping regulations when it failed to include required information on demurrage invoices for more than 200 containers, said TPG Pressure, a U.S. supplier of construction equipment and services. In a complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission dated Nov. 29, TPG said it was forced to pay Omni more than $860,000 in unfair fees before the company released its cargo, adding that Omni also invoiced TPG an additional $362,000 for “alleged services and costs.”
U.S. share of global semiconductor design revenue has declined over the past decade, partly due to export controls and other trade restrictions, the Semiconductor Industry Association and Boston Consulting Group said in a report last week. If the U.S. continues on its path and doesn’t properly tailor its restrictions, U.S. shares of global revenues could drop 10 percentage points over this decade, the report warned.
The U.S. is confident that world leaders will agree to a price cap on Russian oil ahead of the Dec. 5 cap start date, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said during a Dec. 1 event hosted by Reuters. Adeyemo suggested the U.S., the G-7 and the EU are close to an agreement that would prohibit a range of shipping services related to the transport of Russian oil being traded above a certain price (see 2211230047).