The Census Bureau will make several changes to the Automated Export System to accommodate the Commerce Department’s new Authorized Cybersecurity Exports (ACE) license exception, Census said in a Jan. 7 email. Among the changes, the agency will add new Export Control Classification Numbers 4A005 and 4D004 and will create new License Code C64 for the ACE exception.
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed its temporary export control on certain artificial intelligence software as it prepares to make the classification permanent, BIS said in a notice. The temporary control -- first issued in January 2020 (see 2001030024), extended last year (see 2101050018) and renewed for a second time this week -- placed unilateral restrictions on geospatial imagery software by adding it to the 0Y521 Temporary Export Control Classification Numbers Series. The latest one-year renewal is effective Jan. 6.
The Commerce Department published its fall 2021 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security, including a new mention of an export control rule for crime-control items and a rule that would reorganize provisions of the foreign direct product rule in federal regulations.
The Commerce Department will soon launch a new feature to automatically warn filers if they are exporting a controlled item without a license, an improvement the agency hopes leads to better due diligence among exporters. The agency will deploy the Automated Export System feature Jan. 13, 2022, the Census Bureau said in a Dec. 6 email to industry. The announcement has been expected since October (see 2110180027). The new feature will alert exporters that incorrectly list License Requirement NLR (No License Required) for shipments that require a license under the Export Administration Regulations. The message will appear with the response code 66Q and will serve as a warning message to filers for the first six months after the Jan. 13 effective date, Census said. After the six-month period, the agency will upgrade the warning to a “fatal” error, which will block the exporter from moving forward with the filing. Exporters having difficulties with the error message or reporting their information correctly but still receiving the message should email the Bureau of Industry and Security at ECDOEXS@bis.doc.gov, Census said. Exporters should ask about the Export Control Classification Number associated with their export and any other “additional licensing authorization that may be required,” Census said.
Peter Sotis of Delray Beach, Florida, and Emilie Voissem of Sunrise, Florida, were convicted of participating in an illegal export scheme to ship rebreather diving equipment to Libya, the Department of Justice said. Rebreathers, which have dual civilian and military applications, are included on the Commerce Control List and require an export license from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security. Sotis and Voissem did not acquire this license when they attempted to ship the rebreathers to Libya in 2016, despite being told by a Commerce special agent that a license was required.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking feedback on potential export controls for brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies, which may be added to the Commerce Control List as an emerging technology and face new restrictions and license requirements. The agency is specifically seeking comments on whether feasible and effective controls can be imposed on BCI technologies, which include “neural-controlled interfaces, mind-machine interfaces, direct neural interfaces and brain-machine interfaces,” according to an advance notice of proposed rulemaking. Comments are due Dec. 10.
Export controls may prevent some hurdles in the investment and development of emerging quantum computing technologies, the Government Accountability Office said in an Oct. 19 report. Controls may limit some U.S. trade, prevent U.S. quantum technology companies from collaborating with other countries and deter U.S. firms from employing highly skilled foreign workers, the GAO said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is proposing to clarify and expand restrictions on using License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization (see 2109130013), which it hopes will reduce exporter “confusion” and better control certain sensitive technologies, BIS said Oct. 21.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will issue new export controls on certain cybersecurity items and create a new license exception for those exports, BIS said in an interim final rule released Oct. 20. The rule, which will align U.S. cybersecurity restrictions with controls previously agreed to at the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement, will establish more restrictions on certain items that can be used for “malicious cyber activities” by imposing a license requirement for shipments to certain countries, BIS said. The changes take effect Jan. 19, and BIS will accept public comments until Dec. 6.
The Bureau of Industry and Security completed interagency review of an interim final rule that could make changes to the Commerce Control List for certain cybersecurity items. The rule, received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in September (see 2109200005) and completed Oct. 14, would build upon a proposed rule published by BIS in 2015 that was intended to gather feedback on new Wassenaar Arrangement controls on some cybersecurity items.