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

The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on the impact that implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, through the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998 and the Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations, has had on commercial activities involving ``Schedule 1'' chemicals during calendar year 2021. The purpose of this notice of inquiry is to collect information to assist BIS in its preparation of the annual certification to the Congress on whether the legitimate commercial activities and interests of chemical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical firms are harmed by such implementation. This certification is required under Condition 9 of Senate Resolution 75 (April 24, 1997), in which the Senate gave its advice and consent to the ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In this final rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding twenty- seven entities to the Entity List. These twenty-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 will be listed on the Entity List under the destinations of the People's Republic of China (China), Japan, Pakistan, and Singapore. This rule also revises one existing entry on the Entity List under the destination of China, adds addresses under the destination of Taiwan for a listed entity, and corrects an entry under the destination of China. In addition, this rule amends the EAR by adding one entity to the Military End-User (MEU) List under the destination of Russia.

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 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 transformers and transformer components on the national security of the United States. This report was completed on October 15, 2020 and posted on the BIS website in July 2021. 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).

This final rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding four entities to the Entity List. These four entities have been determined by the U.S. Government to be acting contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States and will be listed on the Entity List under the destinations of Israel, Russia, and Singapore.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) maintains controls on the export, reexport and transfer (in-country) of dual-use items and less sensitive military items pursuant to the Export Administration Regulations, including the Commerce Control List (CCL). Certain items that could be of potential concern for export control purposes are not yet listed on the CCL or controlled multilaterally, because they are emerging technologies. Among these items is Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology, which includes, inter alia, neural-controlled interfaces, mind-machine interfaces, direct neural interfaces, and brain-machine interfaces. BIS is seeking public comments on the potential uses of this technology, particularly with respect to its impact on U.S. national security (e.g., whether such technology could provide the United States, or any of its adversaries, with a qualitative military or intelligence advantage). This document also requests public comments on how to ensure that the scope of any controls that may be imposed on this technology would be effective (in terms of protecting U.S. national security interests) and appropriate (with respect to minimizing their potential impact on legitimate commercial or scientific applications).

This interim final rule outlines the progress the United States has made in export controls pertaining to cybersecurity items, revised Commerce Control List (CCL) implementation, and requests from the public information about the impact of these revised controls on U.S. industry and the cybersecurity community. Specifically, this rule establishes a new control on these items for National Security (NS) and Anti-terrorism (AT) reasons, along with a new License Exception Authorized Cybersecurity Exports (ACE) that authorizes exports of these items to most destinations except in the circumstances described. These items warrant controls because these tools could be used for surveillance, espionage, or other actions that disrupt, deny or degrade the network or devices on it.

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 Department of Commerce is publishing this final rule in conjunction with a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) final rule to revise its regulations to remove the NRC's licensing authority for exports of deuterium for non-nuclear end use. The responsibility for the licensing of exports of deuterium for non-nuclear end use is being transferred to the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). BIS is publishing this final rule to include deuterium under its export licensing jurisdiction under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This Commerce final rule describes the changes made to the EAR to control the deuterium moved from the export control authority of the NRC to the export control authority of BIS under the EAR. Exports of deuterium for nuclear end use will remain under the NRC's export licensing jurisdiction.

In this rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by making targeted editorial corrections and clarifications. The errors addressed by this rule were inadvertent and these corrections will provide clarity and facilitate understanding of the regulations. This rule ensures that the language and policies already set forth in the EAR remain consistent throughout.

This final rule revises the regulations governing a request or application for an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (``Section 232''). The changes in this final rule will increase the transparency of Section 232 investigations by requiring the submission of a public version of an application for an investigation from an interested party. The changes made in this final rule still allow an interested party to submit classified national security information and/or business confidential information when submitting an application for an investigation.

On February 24, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14017 (E.O. 14017) on ``America's Supply Chains,'' which directs several federal agency actions to secure and strengthen America's supply chains. One of these directions is for the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the heads of appropriate agencies, to submit, within one year of the date of E.O. 14017, a report on supply chains for critical sectors and subsectors of the information and communications technology (ICT) industrial base (as determined by the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security), including the industrial base for the development of ICT software, data, and associated services. This notice requests comments and information from the public to assist the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security in preparing the report required by E.O. 14017.

The purpose of this notice is to request public comments on the potential market impact of the proposed Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Stockpile Annual Materials Plan (AMP). Potential 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 this 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 National Defense Stockpile and related material research and development projects. Public comments are an important element of the committee's market impact review process.