Bureau of Industry and Security September 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On June 3, 2020, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published the Notice of Request for Public Comments on Section 232 National Security Investigation of Imports of Vanadium. The June 3 notice specified that the Secretary of Commerce initiated an investigation to determine the effects on the national security of imports of vanadium. This investigation was initiated under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended. The June 3 notice invited interested parties to submit written comments, data, analyses, or other information pertinent to the investigation to the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security. The deadline for written comments was July 20, 2020, and the rebuttal comment deadline was August 17, 2020. Today's notice reopens the public comment period with a deadline of October 9, 2020. BIS has posted the initial application for a section 232 investigation into imports of vanadium, titled ``Petition for Relief Under Section 232,'' (dated November 19, 2019) and supplemental information (dated April 2, 2020), as submitted by the applicant, on https://www.regulations.gov in the interests of transparency and to allow additional public comment. Public versions of the exhibits are available online (see the ADDRESSES section).

In this final rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding forty- seven entities, under fifty-one entries to the Entity List. These forty-seven 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. These entities are located under the destinations of Canada, China, Hong Kong, Iran, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. This rule also corrects four existing entries on the Entity List under the destination of China.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) maintains, as part of its Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the Commerce Control List (CCL), which identifies certain items subject to Department of Commerce jurisdiction. This final rule revises the CCL and other corresponding parts of the EAR, to implement changes made to the Wassenaar Arrangement List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies and Munitions List (WA Lists) maintained by the governments participating in the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies (Wassenaar Arrangement, or WA) at the December 2018 WA Plenary meeting. The Wassenaar Arrangement advocates implementation of effective export controls on strategic items with the objective of improving regional and international security and stability. BIS published a final rule on May 23, 2019, implementing certain new controls on emerging technologies, as decided at the 2018 Plenary meeting. This rule harmonizes the CCL with the remaining decisions reached at the 2018 Plenary meeting by revising Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) controlled for national security reasons in each category of the CCL, except Category 4. This rule also makes other associated changes to the EAR, as well as adjustments to license exception eligibility for national security- controlled items and revisions to reporting requirements.

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).