Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., reintroduced a bill last week that could lead to new export controls and sanctions against China. The China Technology Transfer Control Act, first introduced during the last Congress, calls on the president to impose restrictions on “any covered national interest technology or intellectual property” exported from the U.S. to China or by a U.S. person to China. It also would require the Commerce and State departments to submit a report to Congress within 90 days of the bill’s enactment “assessing” whether any covered technologies should be controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations or Export Administration Regulations.

The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will soon expand the types of defense articles and services that can be exported to Australia, the U.K. and Canada, including items and activities involving torpedoes, submarine combat control systems, acoustic countermeasure devices and night vision items. The measures were outlined in a final rule, released April 11 and effective May 12, that will also make “clarifying amendments and conforming updates” to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

The Bureau of Industry and Security this week suspended the export privileges of three people for illegally shipping items to China and Mexico.

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The State Department this week extended its open general license pilot program for three years, allowing users to continue using the licenses beyond the original July 31 expiration date. The agency’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said the extension will help it “collect sufficient data to consider the usefulness” of the pilot -- which includes a license each for certain reexports and retransfers -- and will give companies “sufficient certainty” to continue relying on the licenses “without fear that they could expire more quickly than a traditional license.”

The Biden administration this week plans to “unveil” new human rights-related export control measures as part of the second Summit for Democracy, a senior administration official said. The measures will show how the U.S. and its allies have so far implemented the Export Controls and Human Rights Initiative, an effort announced at the first democracy summit in 2021 that was designed to lead to better guardrails on exports of surveillance items and other technologies (see 2112090030).

The Bureau of Industry and Security this week suspended the export privileges of nine people, after eight of them were convicted of illegally exporting guns and ammunition, and one person was convicted of illegally smuggling pumps and engines.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas dismissed a suit against the State Department concerning the regulation of 3D gun file exports, saying the claims are moot because the State Department shifted export control responsibility to the Commerce Department. Judge Robert Pitman dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, saying plaintiffs Defense Distributed and Second Amendment Foundation failed to show the State Department still regulated the exports. Pitman also ruled that Defense Distributed's claim for monetary damages against the State Department belongs "to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims."

The House this week passed a bill that would direct the State Department to report to Congress on export-related issues under the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) partnership (see 2303130035). The bill, which passed 393-4, also would require the agency to provide information on the average processing times for defense-related export license applications involving Australia and the U.K., information on voluntary disclosures of ITAR violations, ITAR penalties involving the two countries, and an “assessment of recommended improvements to export control laws.” The legislation is viewed as the first step toward potential revision of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the U.S. defense export regulations that industry experts and others say prevent technology sharing and collaboration with close allies (see 2302170022, 2303170045 and 2303140018).

The Bureau of Industry and Security will soon request feedback from industry, academia and others on key differences in U.S. and EU interpretations of export control provisions, said Charles Wall, BIS’ senior policy adviser for the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council. Wall, speaking during a BIS technical advisory committee meeting this week, said the notice will ask for “very specific information” on discrepancies between the two territories' export control regimes and ways those rules can be harmonized.