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

In this rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to conform to the Department of State's (State) amendment of February 14, 2018 to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) that placed restrictions on exports of defense articles (and defense services) to the Republic of South Sudan (South Sudan). The State action reflected a policy determination by the Secretary of State that it was in the best interests of U.S. foreign policy to impose such restrictions. Consistent with the State action, in this amendment, BIS is updating the EAR to restrict the export and reexport of certain items on the Commerce Control List to South Sudan. Pursuant to established procedure, BIS adds South Sudan to the list of U.S. embargoed countries under the EAR, a list drawn from the list of arms embargoes in the ITAR and State Federal Register notices, and adopts a restrictive license application review policy consistent with State's review policy set forth in the ITAR.

The Secretary of Commerce has initiated an investigation to determine the effects on the national security of imports of uranium. This investigation has been initiated under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended. Interested parties are invited to submit written comments, data, analyses, or other information pertinent to the investigation to the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security. This notice identifies issues on which the Department is especially interested in obtaining the public's views.

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.

This notice is to remind the public that U.S. firms are required to report annually to the Department of Commerce (Commerce) information on contracts for the sale of defense articles or defense services to foreign countries or foreign firms that are subject to offsets agreements exceeding $5,000,000 in value. U.S. firms are also required to report annually to Commerce information on offsets transactions completed in performance of existing offsets commitments for which offsets credit of $250,000 or more has been claimed from the foreign representative. This year, such reports must include relevant information from calendar year 2017 and must be submitted to Commerce no later than June 15, 2018.

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 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) publishes this final rule to amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement the recommendations presented at the February 2017 Australia Group (AG) Intersessional Implementation Meeting, and later adopted pursuant to the AG silent approval procedure, and the recommendations made at the June 2017 AG Plenary Implementation Meeting and adopted by the AG Plenary. This rule amends the following Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) on the Commerce Control List (CCL) to reflect the February 2017 Intersessional Implementation Meeting recommendations that were adopted by the AG: ECCN 2B350 (by adding certain prefabricated repair assemblies, and specially designed components therefor, that are designed for attachment to glass-lined reaction vessels, reactors, storage tanks, containers or receivers controlled by this entry); ECCN 2B351 (by clarifying that toxic gas monitoring equipment includes toxic gas monitors and monitoring systems, as well as their dedicated detecting components); and ECCN 2B352 (by adding certain nucleic acid assemblers and synthesizers to this entry and clarifying how the capacity of certain fermenters should be measured for purposes of determining whether they are controlled under this entry). Consistent with the June 2017 AG Plenary Implementation Meeting recommendations that were adopted by the AG, this rule amends the following ECCNs on the CCL: ECCN 1C353 (to clarify that genetically modified organisms include organisms in which the nucleic acid sequences have been created or altered by deliberate molecular manipulation and that inactivated organisms containing recoverable nucleic acids are considered to be genetic elements) and ECCN 1C350 (by adding N,N-Diisopropylamino ethanethiol hydrochloride). This rule also corrects several typographical errors in a note to ECCN 1C351 and updates the advance notification requirements in the EAR that apply to certain exports of saxitoxin. Finally, this rule amends the EAR to reflect the addition of India as a participating country in the AG.

This interim final rule amends the National Security Industrial Base Regulations to add two new supplements. The new supplements set forth the process for how parties in the United States may submit requests for exclusions from actions taken by the President (``exclusion requests'') to protect national security from threats resulting from imports of specified articles. The new supplements also set forth the requirements and process for how parties in the United States may submit objections to the granting of an exclusion request. The supplements are being added to implement Presidential Proclamations 9704 and 9705 of March 8, 2018 (``Proclamations''), adjusting imports of steel articles identified in Proclamation 9705 (``steel'') and aluminum articles identified in Proclamation 9704 (``aluminum'') through the imposition of duties so that imports of steel articles and aluminum articles will no longer threaten to impair the national security. As set forth in the Proclamations, the President concurred with the findings of the Secretary of Commerce (``Secretary'') in two reports to the President on the investigations under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended, of the effect of imports of steel and aluminum, respectively, on the national security of the United States. The Proclamations authorize the Secretary to grant exclusions from the duties upon request of affected parties if the steel or aluminum articles are determined not to be produced in the United States in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or of a satisfactory quality or based upon specific national security considerations. The President directed the Secretary to promulgate regulations as may be necessary to set forth the procedures for an exclusion process.

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 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.

This rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding twenty-one persons under twenty-three entries to the Entity List. The twenty-one persons who are added to the Entity List have been determined by the U.S. Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. These twenty-one persons will be listed on the Entity List under the destinations of Bulgaria, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). In addition, this rule amends the EAR by removing three entities from the Entity List. This rule removes one entity listed under the destination of Taiwan and two entities listed under the destination of the U.A.E. from the Entity List. All three of the removals are the results of requests for removal received by BIS pursuant to the section of the EAR used for requesting removal or modification of an Entity List entry and a review of information provided in the removal requests. Finally, this final rule modifies two existing entries on the Entity List. This rule modifies one entry under China and one entry under Pakistan to provide additional or modified addresses and/or names for these persons.