Bureau of Industry and Security September 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is requesting public comments on the effectiveness of its licensing procedures as defined in the Export Administration Regulations for the export of agricultural commodities to Cuba. BIS will include a description of these comments in its biennial report to the Congress, as required by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, as amended (TSRA).

On September 4, 2018, BIS published a final rule amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding fifteen entities under seventeen entries to the Entity List. An error of omission left out one Pakistani entity from an amendatory instruction. This correction clarifies that instruction.

On March 8, 2018, President Trump issued Proclamations 9704 and 9705 (referred to henceforth as the ``Proclamations''), imposing duties on imports of aluminum and steel. The Proclamations also authorized the Secretary of Commerce (referred to henceforth as the ``Secretary'') to grant exclusions from the duties if the Secretary determines the steel or aluminum article for which the exclusion is requested is not ``produced in the United States in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or of a satisfactory quality'' or should be excluded ``based upon specific national security considerations.'' On March 19, 2018, the Department issued an interim final rule (referred to henceforth as the ``March 19 rule''), setting forth the requirements a directly affected party located in the United States must satisfy when submitting exclusion requests. The March 19 rule also set forth the requirements that U.S. parties must meet when submitting objections to exclusion requests. The March 19 rule amended the National Security Industrial Base Regulations to add two new supplements. The rule published today by BIS, on behalf of the Secretary, revises the two supplements added by the March 19 rule. The revisions are informed by the comments received in response to the March 19 rule and the U.S. Department of Commerce's (referred to henceforth as ``the Department'') experience with managing the exclusion and objection process. The Department understands the importance of having a transparent, fair and efficient exclusion and objection process. The publication of today's rule should make significant improvements in all three respects, but due to the scope of this new process, BIS is publishing today's rule as an interim final rule with request for comments.

The purpose of this notice is to advise the public that the National Defense Stockpile Market Impact Committee, co-chaired by the Departments of Commerce and State, is seeking public comments on the potential market impact of the proposed Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Stockpile Annual Materials Plan. The role of the Market Impact Committee is to advise the National Defense Stockpile Manager on the projected domestic and foreign economic effects of all acquisitions, conversions, and disposals involving the stockpile and related material research and development projects. Public comments are an important element of the Committee's market impact review process.

This final rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding fifteen entities under seventeen entries to the Entity List. These fifteen entities have been determined by the U.S. Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States and will be listed on the Entity List under the destinations of the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. This final rule also modifies two entries on the entity list: One entry under the destination of Hong Kong and one entry under the destination of Russia. Lastly, this final rule removes one entity under the destination of Greece from the Entity List. The removal is the result of a request for removal BIS received pursuant to the EAR and a review of information provided in the removal request.