Bureau of Industry and Security 2019 – 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 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 U.S. Government has decided to extend through February 16, 2020, the temporary general license to Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei) and one hundred and fourteen of its non-U.S. affiliates on the Entity List. In order to implement this decision, this final rule revises the temporary general license to remove the expiration date of November 18, 2019, and substitute the date of February 16, 2020.

In this final rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to further restrict exports and reexports of items to Cuba. Specifically, this rule amends the Cuba licensing policy in the EAR to establish a general policy of denial for leases of aircraft to Cuban state-owned airlines. This rule also amends License Exception Aircraft, Vessels and Spacecraft (AVS) to clarify that aircraft and vessels are not eligible for the license exception if they are leased to or chartered by a national of Cuba or a State Sponsor of Terrorism. Additionally, this rule amends the EAR to establish a general 10-percent de minimis level for Cuba. Finally, this rule revises License Exception Support for the Cuban People (SCP) to make the Cuban government and communist party ineligible for certain donations, removes an authorization for promotional items that generally benefits the Cuban government, and clarifies the scope of telecommunications items that the Cuban government may receive without a license. BIS is making these amendments to further restrict the Cuban government's access to items subject to the EAR, thereby supporting the Administration's national security and foreign policy decision to hold the Cuban regime accountable for its repression of the Cuban people and its support for the Maduro regime in Venezuela; the Cuban regime denies its people fundamental freedoms while keeping Maduro in power using Cuban military intelligence and state security services. These amendments are consistent with the National Security Presidential Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba, signed by the President on June 16, 2017.

The EDA, NTIA, BIS and MBDA, Department of Commerce (DOC), announce the appointment of those individuals who have been selected to serve as members of the Performance Review Board. The Performance Review Board is responsible for reviewing performance appraisals and ratings of Senior Executive Service (SES) members and Senior Level (SL) members and making recommendations to the appointing authority on other performance management issues, such as pay adjustments, bonuses and Presidential Rank Awards for SES and SL members. The appointment of these members to the Performance Review Board will be for a period of twenty-four (24) months.

On May 16, 2019, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei) and sixty-eight of its non-U.S. affiliates were added to the Entity List. Their addition to the Entity List imposed a licensing requirement under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) regarding the export, reexport, or transfer (in-country) of any item subject to the EAR to any of these 69 listed Huawei entities. The Entity List-based licensing requirement applied in addition to any other license requirement, if any, applicable under the EAR to the transaction in question. On May 22, 2019, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a temporary general license, effective May 20, 2019, that modified the effect of the listing in order to temporarily authorize engagement in certain transactions, involving the export, reexport, or transfer (in- country) of items subject to the EAR to the 69 listed Huawei entities. The U.S. Government has decided to extend the temporary general license through November 18, 2019. In order to implement this decision, this final rule revises the temporary general license to remove the expiration date of August 19, 2019, and substitutes the date of November 18, 2019. This final rule also makes certain clarifying changes to the authorized transactions under the temporary general license to improve public understanding. Lastly, this final rule revises the temporary general license by changing which party to the transaction is required to create the certification statement by requiring that the exporter, reexporter, or transferor obtain a certification statement from the pertinent Huawei listed entity prior to using the temporary general license. Concurrently with the this final rule, BIS is also publishing elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register the final rule, Addition of Certain Entities to the Entity List and Revision of Entries on the Entity List. This final rule, as a conforming change for the addition of these other non-U.S. affiliates of Huawei to the Entity List, revises the temporary general license to include those additional Huawei affiliates within the scope of the temporary general license.