The Bureau of Industry and Security should consider working with companies to help them carry out extra due diligence for certain chip exports and should introduce a notification requirement for exports of advanced AI chips, researchers said in a new report last week. Those and other recommendations could help BIS better prevent illegal chip smuggling, they said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security’s lack of an official replacement regulation for the Biden-era AI diffusion rule is causing significant uncertainty for companies working in the semiconductor sector, industry officials said this week. Although BIS has said it doesn’t plan to enforce the rule, at least one consultant said she’s not yet comfortable advising clients to ignore those restrictions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is still discussing how it wants to craft its replacement to the Biden-era AI diffusion rule, an agency official said, as well as preparing to finalize recent rules that reduced licensing requirements for exports of certain space-related items and proposed to simplify the License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization. The official also said the Trump administration is considering tweaks to export licensing, acknowledging that applications are taking longer than usual.
The Bureau of Industry and Security's recently issued advanced chip guidance appears to raise compliance expectations for industry, especially for banks and forwarders that may be indirectly or inadvertently violating export controls on China, lawyers said.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed June 5 that the Commerce Department is reviewing a Biden administration interim final rule that increased restrictions on firearms exports.
At least three companies last week disclosed receiving letters from the Bureau of Industry and Security informing them of new license restrictions they must follow for certain exports to China, including two semiconductor design firms and one oil company.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is suspending and revoking existing export licenses for a range of items destined to China, including chip-related design software and civil aviation items, two people familiar with the matter said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security officially announced this week that it plans to rescind the Biden administration’s AI diffusion export control rule and issue a “replacement rule in the future.” The agency also issued new guidance about how using Huawei Ascend chips and other Chinese chips likely violates U.S. export controls, published recommendations for companies to protect their supply chains against “diversion tactics,” and outlined the types of activities involving AI chips and AI models that may trigger a license requirement.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls this month updated its list of commodity jurisdiction determinations for items and services controlled under the U.S. Munitions List. The new determinations cover certain amplifiers, drones, parts related to fuel tanks, freight advisory services, transceivers, helicopter training, engines and more. DDTC also said some of the items should be classified by the Bureau of Industry and Security under the Export Administration Regulations as EAR99 or other specific Export Control Classification Numbers.
The Census Bureau this week updated two license type codes in the Automated Export System to reflect which Export Control Classification Numbers can be used with those codes, which need to be reported for certain chip-related exports.