The State Department plans to soon issue new export compliance guidance and has made progress updating its Part 130 process, senior agency official Mike Miller said. Miller, speaking during the Defense Trade Advisory Group plenary last week, also said the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is working more closely with the Commerce Department on end-use checks, and said the agency has seen an uptick in violations involving illegal exports of technical data.
The Commerce Department again renewed a temporary export denial order for Mahan Airways because the airline continues to violate the order and the Export Administration Regulations, according to a notice issued this week. Mahan Airways has been on the banned list since 2008, and Commerce said the Iranian airline has continued to fly into Moscow in violation of U.S. export controls against Russia. The latest renewal is for 180 days from Nov. 8.
The U.S. and South Korea launched a new working group this week to better harmonize the countries’ export control decisions and ensure a “level-playing field” for businesses. BIS said it hopes the working group will help both sides identify “specific actions” to “advance export controls cooperation.” The announcement comes about a month after the U.S. issued a range of new semiconductor-related restrictions on exports to China -- controls that the U.S. hopes to convince allies, including South Korea, to also impose (see 2210270047 and 2210070049).
The new U.S. chip controls against China (see 2210070049 and 2211010042) mark a “major escalation” in the U.S.-China technology war and will likely have a significant effect on China’s technology capabilities, Bank of America said this week. The bank also warned that the controls, which are “more comprehensive and stricter than what we have seen in the past,” could ultimately open the “door to more sweeping restrictions in other domains like leading edge manufacturing.”
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The U.S. should make use of more inland ports to help alleviate congestion along the coasts, port authorities told the Department of Transportation in recent comments. More inland terminals could help containers move more quickly and efficiently, they said, and could help reduce costs by limiting the number of containers forced to sit in marine terminals.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should avoid placing export controls on automated peptide synthesizers, U.S. companies said, arguing that the restrictions would hurt U.S. technological leadership and wouldn't do much to limit the proliferation of biological weapons. A Chinese national academy also opposed the controls, saying they could stifle global research and innovation.
As U.S. chip and technology companies continue to grapple with the U.S’s latest export restrictions on China (see 2211010042), a number of firms fear the controls will hurt their sales and exacerbate uncertainty in the semiconductor sector and the industry’s supply chains. In filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission this month, at least one firm projected revenue losses while others said they are still assessing the impact of the complex controls and whether they can secure export licenses.
A United Arab Emirates company violated U.S. export controls by shipping or trying to ship more than $50,000 worth of U.S.-origin telecommunications items to Syria and Iran, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a charging letter released last week. The company, WEBS Electronics Trading Company, and its owner, Mohammad Alhamra, also lied to a BIS agent when it said it didn’t export to Syria.
The semiconductor industry was disappointed the new U.S. export control rules involving China weren’t imposed multilaterally and were frustrated by the Commerce Department’s lack of engagement before the rules were announced, a chip industry executive said. Semiconductor companies also have received mixed messages from Commerce about how long it could take to convince allies to impose similar controls, a China technology expert said, and fear that China could retaliate before allies are brought on board.