Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 9-13 in case they were missed.

An interim final rule involving International Traffic in Arms Regulations definitions for activities that aren’t classified as exports, re-exports or transfers is under review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the OIRA said in a Sept. 10 notice. The rule aims to amend the ITAR to create definitions for several activities, including launching items into space, “providing technical data” to U.S. people either in the U.S. or in a “single country abroad,” and moving defense goods between U.S. states, according to the OIRA. The definitions would also remove requirements related to the “electronic transmission and storage of unclassified technical data via foreign communications infrastructure when the data is secured sufficiently to prevent access by foreign persons,” the OIRA said.

Robert Monjay, previously the acting co-division chief of the Technology and Jurisdictional Analysis Division in the State Department Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, joined Akin Gump as senior counsel in the international trade practice, the law firm said in a news release. "Monjay is a former State Department policy official responsible for the application, amendment and interpretation of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)," the firm said. "He held similar responsibilities while previously serving as a policy official in the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security."

Commerce revoked export privileges for Sammy Smith, who was convicted in 2018 of violating the Export Control Act after trying to illegally export firearms components from the U.S. to Turkey, Commerce said in an Aug. 30 notice. Smith tried to export several items on the U.S. Munitions List, including “glock pistol upper receivers, barrels and recoil springs, Lone Wolf pistol upper receivers with matching barrels and a Beretta PX4 pistol short barrel,” Commerce said. Smith was sentenced to two months in prison, six months of supervised release and a $100 fine, the notice said. Commerce revoked Smith’s export privileges for seven years dating from his July 9, 2018, conviction.

The State Department is removing certain “lower performing radars” from the U.S. Munitions List and is extending for two years a temporary modification to Category XI, the State Department said in a notice in the Federal Register.

Violations of the Arms Export Control Act require knowledge that the unlicensed exports were unlawful, and not just that the exporter knew their general conduct was illegal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in an Aug. 20 decision. Vacating the conviction of a forwarder for Arms Export Control Act violations, the appeals court held that the lower court’s jury instructions were not specific enough and could have been misinterpreted to include knowledge of import violations in another country.

The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls rescheduled its In-House Seminar from Sept. 18 to Oct. 9 due to scheduling conflicts, the DDTC said in an Aug. 22 notice. DDTC is extending registration for an additional week, but remains "first-come, first-served." Questions should be directed to DDTCInHouseSeminars@state.gov.

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security revoked export privileges for four people after they exported guns, ammunition and other defense-related items from the U.S. to Lebanon, BIS said Aug. 13. The four people -- Ali Afif Al Herz, Sarah Majid Zeaiter, Adam Al Herz and Bassem Afif Herz -- were convicted in 2016 of violating the Arms Export Control Act by exporting items on the U.S. Munitions List without State Department licenses. Each was sentenced to prison and placed on the State Department’s Debarred List.

The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls changed identifying information for Sofradir EC Inc. and Bell company entities and is waiving the requirement for amendments to change approved license authorizations because of the large number of authorizations requiring amendments to reflect the change in each instance, the DDTC said. Sofradir EC is being changed to Lynred USA Inc., the DDTC said. The DDTC also modified names and addresses for more than 30 Bell companies.

One of the top concerns of the U.S. firearms industry is the delay in transitioning export controls of firearms and ammunition from the State Department to the Commerce Department, said Larry Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. As the wait for Export Control Reform has increased -- beginning in 2009 under the Obama administration and continuing under the Trump administration -- the U.S. firearms industry increasingly feels as if it has been left behind, Keane said.