The Bureau of Industry and Security is still developing a proposed rule to prevent sophisticated hacking tools and expertise from being exported to foreign governments that spy on their own citizens, a Commerce Department official said March 27.

The Bureau of Industry and Security recently completed a round of interagency review for a final rule to make tweaks, clarifications and corrections to its recent chip export control updates released in October (see 2310170055). BIS sent the correction rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Nov. 27 (see 2311280005), and the review was completed March 21. BIS has said the agency is looking to clarify several issues that exporters have raised since the controls were updated and correct other provisions that “may not have fully hit the mark we intended” (see 2311060067, 2311160044 and 2401260051).

China’s Commerce Ministry urged the U.S. against placing new export controls on companies linked to Huawei after hearing the U.S. is reportedly considering adding them to the Commerce Department’s Entity List.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is drafting a rule that could harmonize its export controls with some parties subject to the Treasury Department’s financial blocking sanctions. BIS completed a round of interagency review March 7 for the final rule, which would impose export restrictions, including end-user controls, on “certain persons identified” on Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.

The U.S. may need new industry advisory committees to help it implement and maintain its semiconductor export controls against China, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a recent report.

The Bureau of Industry and Security on Feb. 21 completed a round of interagency review for an interim final rule that could clarify export control rules for certain semiconductors and expand a license exception for government end users. The rule, sent for interagency review Jan. 26, could clarify controls on certain “Radiation Hardened Integrated Circuits” and expand License Exception GOV (governments, international organizations, international inspections under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the International Space Station).

U.S., Japanese and Korean officials met in Tokyo this week to discuss export controls, including ways their three countries can better share information and align their restrictions, the Bureau of Industry and Security said. The meeting was the “first in-person meeting of its kind” focused on aligning export controls, BIS said, and the three sides agreed to “further align on Russia controls, collaborate on outreach to countries in Southeast Asia, and cooperate on controls for critical and emerging technologies.”

The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review this week that will introduce new Russia-related export controls. The rule, sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Feb. 20, would impose new export, reexport and in-country transfer restrictions on people and entities blocked under Executive Order 14024, issued in 2021 to address national security threats from Russia.

Matthew Axelrod, the Bureau of Industry and Security's top export enforcement official, traveled to Germany last week to talk with European industry executives and enforcement officials about export controls and to speak at the 2024 Munich Security Conference. BIS said Axelrod “participated in several discussions regarding national security challenges facing the United States and its partners.” Matthew Olsen, head of DOJ’s National Security Division, and Paul Rosen, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for investment security, also attended.

The U.S. should pursue forming a new multilateral regime to coordinate export controls and related policies for critical and emerging technologies (CET) because existing multilateral export control entities are ill-suited for that role, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a new report.