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.

The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls changed identifying information for Hitachi Kokusai Yagi Solutions Inc. and Sogeti España, S.L.U. and is waiving the requirement for amendments to change approved license authorizations because of the “volume of authorizations requiring amendments to reflect this change,” in each instance, the DDTC said. Hitachi Kokusai Yagi Solutions Inc. is being changed to HYS Engineering Service Inc. with a new address of 32, Miyuki-cho, Kadaira-shi, Tokyo, 187-8511, Japan, the DDTC said. Sogeti España, S.L.U. is being changed to CapGemini España, S.L. The DDTC said the amendment waiver does not apply to approved or pending agreements. The DDTC will not accept license applications with the old name Hitachi Kokusai Yagi Solutions after Sep. 6 and will not accept applications with the old name Sogeti España after Aug. 19, the agency said.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security denied a man export privileges after he was convicted in August 2018 of helping to illegally export about 1,000 rounds of ammunition from the U.S. to Mexico in violation of the Arms Export Control Act, Commerce said Aug. 5. Juan Jesus De La Rosa was sentenced to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release for aiding and abetting the export and trying to export the ammunition, which were designated as defense items on the U.S. Munitions List and required a State Department license. De La Rosa is banned from exporting from the U.S. until Aug. 28, 2028.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 29 - Aug. 2 in case they were missed.

The State Department is seeking public comments on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that would consolidate and clarify exemptions in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the agency said in a notice. The State Department is specifically seeking comments about whether any of the exemptions are “redundant” or “contain language that introduces significant ambiguity or hinders the exemption’s intended use,” the notice said. The notice is scheduled to publish July 26. State is in the process of reorganizing the ITAR (see 1907120011). Comments are due by Aug. 26.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 15-19 in case they were missed.

The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued a July 17 notice saying that Access Certificates for Electronic Services (ACES) certificates are required to “access the DTrade defense export licensing system.” The DDTC said all ACES certificates “must expire” before Aug. 1, 2020, and that the ACES provider, IdenTrust, will continue to issue certificates if they are “posted with an expiration date” of July 31, 2020, or earlier. “If you purchase an ACES certificate after July 31st, 2019, the validity period will be truncated to less than a full year,” the DDTC said. Questions about the ACES transition should be directed to IdenTrust at Support@IdenTrust.com or to the DDTC’s help desk at dtradehelpdesk@state.gov.

The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is changing the name of its Defense Trade Controls Compliance Registration division to the Registration Compliance & Analysis (RCA) division, the DDTC said in a July 15 notice. There will be no change to the registration organization’s structure, the DDTC said. The notice said all registration letters issued on or after July 15 will “reflect the RCA division” and all active letters issued before July 15 remain valid and no changes are needed. The DDTC also said it updated its website on July 15 to reflect the name change.