After several years of delays, Commerce Department officials said industry may soon see progress on the agency’s long-awaited routed export rule. Although the rule is unlikely to be published this year, officials this week said they are hoping to prioritize the effort in the coming months, which could include major changes to the process around assigning filing responsibilities to forwarders and address information sharing among parties in routed export transactions (see 2006020049).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued preliminary guidance on the price cap for seaborne Russian oil and related maritime services policy. The G7 confirmed its joint intention for the cap at the Sept. 2 meeting of finance ministers (see 2209020034).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on potential export controls over certain instruments for the automated synthesis of peptides, the agency said in an advance notice of proposed rulemaking this week. The agency, which has been drafting the ANPRM since at least June (see 2206270007 and 2208290019), said automated peptide synthesizers may warrant export restrictions as foundational or emerging technologies because of their potential impact on American national security. Comments are due Oct. 28.
India chose not to sign onto the trade pillar in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which focuses on digital trade, trade facilitation, science-based sanitary and phytosanitary rules, trade in environmental goods, and laws to protect labor rights.
New multilateral export controls on certain electronic computer-aided design (ECAD) software won’t have an immediate effect on semiconductor companies and are unlikely to cause wide concern in the short term, industry officials said. The controls, announced by the Bureau of Industry and Security Aug. 15 (see 2208120038) and effective in October, seek to restrict an emerging technology that may not be commercially available for at least two years, although officials say it remains unclear what exactly the restrictions will cover.
A recent investigation by the DOJ Office of the Inspector General found a West Virginia University Research Corporation (WVURC) program funded by a DOJ grant to research the use of artificial intelligence to identify opioid trafficking on the dark web produced publications co-authored with individuals affiliated with organizations on the Entity List, a DOJ OIG report released Sept. 7 said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security announced an interim final rule that expands authorization for the release of controlled technology for the purposes of standards-setting activities to also include software and all entities on the agency’s Entity List. The authorization previously applied only to "technology" and some listed entities, namely Huawei and its affiliates. The interim rule addresses concerns about whether BIS licenses are required to release low-level technology for legitimate standards activities, BIS said in a Sept. 8 press release. The interim rule takes effect Sept. 9.
Trade facilitation -- or how customs is administered -- and digital trade practices are non-tariff barriers that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework can tackle, and therefore help U.S. exporters, particularly small businesses. That was the message from a senior official at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which is managing one of the four pillars of the IPEF.
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California-based Arteris, a multinational semiconductor company, said it received a warning letter from the Bureau of Industry and Security after it disclosed potential export control violations (see 2110130040). The company was given the warning earlier this year after BIS decided “not to refer this matter for criminal or administrative prosecution,” Arteris said in an August SEC filing.