The Bureau of Industry and Security added 37 entities to the Entity List for a range of reasons, including for supplying controlled items to Iran, supporting China’s military modernization efforts, illegally providing items to Russia and contributing to surveillance efforts in China and Myanmar. The entities -- located in Belarus, Myanmar, China, Pakistan, Russia and Taiwan -- will be subject to a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations with varying license application review policies. BIS also modified 10 existing Chinese entries on the Entity List. The additions and changes take effect March 2.
The Biden administration should be doing more to harmonize its export controls and sanctions lists to more effectively penalize foreign companies that should be subject to strict trade restrictions, lawmakers said this week. Several Republicans suggested they plan to pursue legislation to mandate that the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List be aligned with sanctions lists maintained by the Treasury Department, and at least one lawmaker said BIS should already have taken steps to formally do so.
The U.S. announced a new, sweeping set of export controls and sanctions last week to further hobble Russia on the one-year anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine, including additions to the Entity List, an expansion of industry sector restrictions on both Russia and Belarus, new export controls against Iran to address its drone transfers to Russia, and new financial sanctions against more than 100 people and entities. Many of the measures, which were announced alongside similar actions by U.S. G-7 allies, aim to “cut off the Russian defense industrial base and military from even low-technology consumer items,” the Bureau of Industry and Security said.
The proposed Chip 4 Alliance of the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (see 2212280035 and 2210050009) likely will not be enough to keep U.S. semiconductor technology ahead of China, one lawmaker and several experts said during a Feb. 22 event hosted by the Atlantic Council. For the U.S. to achieve true multilateral chip cooperation, including with the EU, experts said, the U.S. may have to settle for watered-down restrictions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security announced a host of new export control actions aimed at further limiting Russia from sustaining its war effort against Ukraine, including additions to the Entity List, an expansion of the agency’s industry sector restrictions on both Russia and Belarus and new export controls against Iran to address its drone transfers to Russia. The measures, effective Feb. 24, add 86 new entities to the Entity List; place additional restrictions on commercial, industrial and luxury goods; impose new license requirements on “low-technology” items destined to Iran; create a new Iran Foreign Direct Product Rule, and more.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
China’s commerce ministry this week announced penalties and trade restrictions on U.S. defense companies Lockheed Martin and Raytheon over their arms sales to Taiwan. The measure placed Lockheed and Raytheon Missiles and Defense, a Raytheon subsidiary, on China’s so-called Unreliable Entity List and prohibits them from “engaging in import and export activities related to China,” according to an unofficial translation of a Feb. 16 ministry notice.
China said it would take "countermeasures" against U.S. entities in response to sanctions on Chinese companies over the entry of a Chinese surveillance balloon into U.S. airspace. The U.S. sanctioned six Chinese entities in response to the balloon, adding them to the Entity List (see 2302100072). A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a regular press conference in Beijing Feb. 15 that it will take retaliatory measures "against relevant US entities that have undermined China’s sovereignty and security to firmly safeguard China’s sovereignty and legitimate rights and interests."
The Bureau of Industry and Security suspended the export privileges of three people this week, including one person who tried to ship controlled items to an entity on the Entity List.
The U.S., the EU and others can take steps to improve how they administer export controls, deliver guidance to industry and more efficiently target dangerous end users, experts said this week. One expert specifically called on the U.S. to revise the Entity List, which should better isolate the worst export control offenders.