The State Department published an interim final rule that will revise the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to provide definitions for activities that are not exports, re-exports, retransfers or temporary imports, the agency said in a notice in the Federal Register. The activities include launching items into space, providing technical data to U.S. people within the U.S. or “within a single country abroad,” and moving defense items within the U.S.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is canceling its 3 p.m. courier drop-off/pick-up this week due to “minimal staffing” during the holidays, the DDTC said Dec. 20. The DDTC Response Team and Help Desk will be open Monday, Thursday and Friday this week, but responses may be delayed until next week, “depending on volume.”
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., for a second time announced he will block the Trump administration’s efforts to transfer export controls of firearms from the State Department to the Commerce Department, according to a Dec. 13 press release. In a Dec. 10 letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Menendez said the military items should not be removed from the State Department’s U.S. Munitions List and should instead be subject to “more rigorous controls” and oversight. The senator previously announced a hold on the transfer in February (see 1903060021).
The Commerce Department denied Paul Stuart Brunt export privileges after he was convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act, Commerce said in a notice. Brunt illegally exported firearms controlled under the U.S. Munitions List to Turkey and Iraq, the notice said. He was convicted March 1, 2019, and sentenced to three years of probation, required to perform 200 hours of community service and fined $20,000, the agency said. Commerce revoked Brunt’s export privileges for 10 years from his date of conviction.
An Iranian businessman was sentenced to 46 months in prison for illegally exporting carbon fiber from the U.S. to Iran, the Justice Department said Nov. 14. Behzad Pourghannad worked with two others between 2008 and 2013 to export the carbon fiber to Iran from third countries using falsified documents and front companies, the agency said.
A Lebanese energy equipment company was fined $368,000 by the Bureau of Industry and Security after it illegally reexported generators to Syria, according to a settlement agreement signed Nov. 27. Ghaddar Machinery allegedly committed 20 violations of the Export Administration Regulations from 2014 to 2016, totaling about $730,000 worth of exports, BIS said. Ghaddar agreed to pay the penalty in five installments through November 2021. Failure to make the payments could result in more penalties, according to the settlement agreement, including a two-year denial of export privileges.
Australia’s Department of Defense’s export controls division will be closed noon on Dec. 20 until Jan. 2, 2020, the agency said in a Dec. 2 notice. Applications will not be processed during that time. Applications received after Dec. 2 may not be completed before the agency closes and will continue to be processed after Jan. 2, the notice said. The agency urges applicants to contact the Defense Export Controls division “should you urgently require a permit” after Dec. 2.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 18-22 in case you missed them.
The Department of State published its 2019 fall agenda, including a new mention of an amendment to Category XVI of the U.S. Munitions List for Nuclear Weapons Related Articles. The change will “better harmonize” the State Department’s rules with the Department of Energy’s part 810 regulations. The rule will also ensure that items that provide the U.S. with “critical military or intelligence advantages” are listed on the USML and “remain subject to … export controls at all times.” The State Department plans to issue the rule in December.
The Department of Commerce published its fall 2019 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security. The agenda includes a new mention of its intent to potentially control certain additive manufacturing equipment, or 3D printing, used in “energetic materials” as part of BIS’s effort to restrict sales of emerging technologies (see 1911210051). The notice of proposed rulemaking aims to gather feedback from industries while “discussions are ongoing” at the Wassenaar Arrangement. BIS said it aims to issue the proposed rule in November.