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

In this final rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to revise the license review policy for items controlled for national security reasons destined to the People's Republic of China (PRC), Venezuela, or the Russian Federation (Russia). With this revision, BIS and reviewing agencies will determine whether the export, reexport, or transfer (in- country) of items controlled for National Security (NS) reasons will make a material contribution to the ``development,'' ``production,'' maintenance, repair, or operation of weapons systems of the PRC, Venezuela, or the Russian Federation, as well as setting forth several factors that will be considered in reviewing license applications.

This temporary final rule establishes procedures to grant relief from the quantitative limitation applicable to certain steel articles for Brazil for parties with preexisting contracts that meet specified criteria as authorized by the President as part of the action he took to adjust imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (``section 232'').

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by removing forty (40) persons from the Unverified List (``UVL'') and adding twenty-six (26) persons to the UVL. The 40 persons are removed from the UVL on the basis that BIS was able to verify their bona fides (i.e., legitimacy and reliability relating to the end use and end user of items subject to the EAR) on the basis of a successful end-use check or because the companies are no longer registered to do business in the country of listing and are no longer involved in U.S. exports. The 26 persons are being added to the UVL on the basis that BIS could not verify their bona fides because an end-use check could not be completed satisfactorily for reasons outside the U.S. Government's control.

In this rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations to impose a license requirement on exports and reexports of water cannon systems for riot or crowd control and parts and components specially designed therefor. This action furthers U.S. foreign policy interests for crime control (CC) reasons and is intended to address the spread of violations of human rights globally by enabling the government to review covered exports and reexports worldwide, except to NATO member countries and certain other military allies. This change will also enable the Government to more effectively control exports of water cannons to the Hong Kong Police Force, consistent with a 2019 Congressional mandate to prohibit the licensing of such transactions. This rule also makes conforming amendments.

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, as well as corresponding parts of the EAR, to implement certain changes made to the Wassenaar Arrangement List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies (WA List) maintained and agreed to by 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 2019 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. This final rule implements multilateral controls on six recently developed or developing technologies, which were identified by the WA December 2019 WA Plenary Meeting in a manner contemplated by the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA) to identify emerging technologies that are essential to U.S. national security. This rule harmonizes the CCL with the WA December 2019 Plenary Meeting agreements that pertain to these six technologies. The inclusion of the six technologies in this final rule is consistent with the requirements of ECRA and the decision of the WA to add such technologies to its control lists, thereby making exports of such technologies subject to multilateral control. As these six technologies are recently developed or developing technologies that are essential to the national security of the United States, early implementation of the applicable WA December 2019 Plenary agreements is warranted. The remaining WA 2019 Plenary agreements will be implemented in a separate rule.

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

The purpose of this notice is to request public comments on the potential market impact of the proposed Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Stockpile Annual Materials Plan (AMP). Changes to the AMP are discussed and decided by the National Defense Stockpile Market Impact Committee, co- chaired by the Departments of Commerce and State. 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.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) controls the export, reexport, and transfer (in-country) of dual-use and certain military items through the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), including the Commerce Control List (CCL). Many items (commodities, software, and technology) subject to the jurisdiction of the EAR are listed on the CCL. Pursuant to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, BIS and its interagency partners are engaged in a process to identify emerging and foundational technologies that are essential to the national security of the United States. Foundational technologies essential to the national security are those that may warrant stricter controls if a present or potential application or capability of that technology poses a national security threat to the United States. In order to determine if technologies are foundational, BIS will evaluate specific items, including items currently subject only to anti-terrorism (AT) controls on the CCL or those designated as EAR99. This ANPRM seeks public comment on the definition of, and criteria for, identifying foundational technologies. Comments on this ANPRM will help inform the interagency process to identify and describe such foundational technologies.

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei) and a number of non- U.S. affiliates have been placed on the Entity List. In order to further address the continuing threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests posed by Huawei and its non-U.S. affiliates, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in this final rule is making three sets of changes to controls for Huawei and its listed non-U.S. affiliates under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). First, BIS is adding additional non-U.S. affiliates of Huawei to the Entity List because they also pose a significant risk of involvement in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. Second, this rule removes a temporary general license for Huawei and its non-U.S. affiliates and replaces those provisions with a more limited authorization that will better protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. Third, in response to public comments, this final rule amends General Prohibition Three, also known as the foreign-produced direct product rule, to revise the control over certain foreign-produced items recently implemented by BIS. These revisions are consistent with the authority provided by the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA).

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

This final rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding eleven entities to the Entity List. These eleven entities have been determined by the United States Government to be acting contrary to the foreign policy interests of the United States and will be listed on the Entity List under the destination of the People's Republic of China (China). This rule also modifies or revises thirty-seven existing entries on the Entity List under the destination of China.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in this notice is publishing a report that summarizes the findings of an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (``Section 232''), into the effect of imports of aluminum on the national security of the United States. This report was completed on January 17, 2018 and posted on the BIS website on February 16, 2018. BIS has not published the appendices to the report in this notification of report findings, but they are available online at the BIS website, along with the rest of the report (see the ADDRESSES section).

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) publishes this final rule to amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement the decisions made at the February 2020 Australia Group (AG) Intersessional Implementation Meeting, and those later adopted pursuant to the AG's silence procedure. Specifically, this rule amends Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) 1C350, 1C351 and 2B352 on the Commerce Control List (CCL) to reflect these AG changes. ECCN 1C350 is amended by adding twenty-four precursor chemicals, as well as mixtures in which at least one of these chemicals constitutes 30 percent or more of the weight of the mixture, to ECCN 1C350.d. ECCN 1C351 is amended to add Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-related coronavirus). ECCN 2B352 is amended by adding a Technical Note to indicate that cultivation chamber holding devices controlled in 2B352.b.2.b include single-use cultivation chambers with rigid walls. The items addressed by this final rule were not previously listed on the CCL or controlled multilaterally. BIS, consistent with the interagency process described in the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA), identified the precursor chemicals and single-use cultivation chambers addressed by this final rule as emerging technologies that are essential to U.S. national security and for which effective controls can be implemented. The inclusion of such items in this final rule is consistent with the requirements of ECRA and the decision of the AG to add such items to its common control lists, thereby making exports of such items subject to multilateral control (following the implementation of these changes by individual AG participating countries, including the United States).

On May 19, 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 Laminations for Stacked Cores for Incorporation into Transformers, Stacked Cores for Incorporation into Transformers, Wound Cores for Incorporation into Transformers, Electrical Transformers, and Transformer Regulators. Today's notice extends the deadline for written comments to July 3, 2020 and for rebuttal comments to July 24, 2020.

This final rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding nine entities to the Entity List. These nine entities have been determined by the U.S. Government to be acting contrary to the foreign policy interests of the United States and will be listed on the Entity List under the destination of the People's Republic of China (China). This rule also modifies two entries and revises one entry on the Entity List under the destination of China.

On May 28, 2020, in response to a petition, the Secretary of Commerce (the ``Secretary'') initiated an investigation to determine the effects on the national security from imports of vanadium. 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 (the ``Department'') Bureau of Industry and Security by July 20, 2020. Rebuttal comments will be due by August 17, 2020. While the Department is interested in any information related to this investigation that the public can provide, this notice identifies particular issues of significance.