The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is soliciting further comment on control measures for automated peptide synthesizers. Peptides and polypeptides are chains of amino acids, and proteins are composed of one or more large chains of polypeptides.   

The U.S. Justice Department has reached a settlement with General Motors (GM) over alleged discrimination against non-U.S. citizens in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The department's investigation determined that GM's export compliance assessments improperly required lawful permanent residents to provide an unexpired foreign passport as a condition of employment, creating a discriminatory barrier in the hiring process.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Department of Commerce is announcing its recruitment of candidates to serve on one of its six Technical Advisory Committees (“TACs” or “Committees”). TAC members advise the Department of Commerce on the technical parameters for export controls applicable to dual-use items (commodities, software, and technology) and on the administration of those controls.

Microsoft has agreed to pay $3.3 million to settle potential civil liability relating to exporting services or software to comprehensively sanctioned jurisdictions and Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) in violation of OFAC's Cuba, Iran, Syria, and Ukraine-/Russia-Related sanctions programs.

An Estonian national has been indicted on eighteen counts related to conspiracy and other charges, including the procurement of sensitive US-made electronics for the Russian government and military. He engaged in this conduct despite being listed on the US Department of Commerce-maintained "Entity List," which designates individuals and companies barred from exporting items from the United States without a license.

For the next annual offset report reflecting calendar year 2022 data, U.S. firms must submit the required information on offsets agreements and transactions from calendar year 2022 to BIS by June 15, 2023.

A federal court has ordered the forfeiture of approximately $826,000 in funds connected to an attempt to smuggle a dual-use export-controlled item to Russia. The high-precision jig grinder, manufactured in Connecticut, was intercepted in Riga, Latvia, before it could be shipped to Russia. The machine is subject to export restrictions due to its potential applications in nuclear proliferation and defense programs.

Kenneth Scott and his company, Mission Electronics, have agreed not to engage in the export of EAR controlled material for a period of twenty years.  Scott was charged in June 2022 by the U.S. Department of Commerce with violating multiple export control regulations related to the sale of two Motorola handheld radios to Iran with a total value of approximately $1,700..

Evan Broderick Acting Executive Director of the Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) program at BIS discussed the OICTS, a rapidly growing enforcement activity that set up shop last March.

“The program started with the 2019 Order 13873. that is the Supply Chain EO as it's commonly referred to. It is essentially said that the secretary of commerce can prohibit or mitigate ICTS transactions: information and communications technology transactions that used data in transferred from and linked to a foreign adversary."

Commerce released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the guardrails intended to ensure technology and innovation funded by the CHIPS and Science Act is not used for malign purposes by adversaries.

The Automated Export System has been modified to report shipments governed by last Fall's Certain Advanced Computing and Semiconductor Manufacturing Items; Supercomputer and Semiconductor End Use Rules.

Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod  reviewed his team's initiatives in the Research Community in a March 8th speech to the Academic Security and Counter Exploitation Program’s Seventh Annual Seminar. 

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul released his interpretation of data on licensing outcomes from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) …

The Bureau of Industry and Security added 37 entities under 38 entries to the Entity List March 2nd, including 28 Chinese firms.

Signaling a redoubled focus on countries providing conduits to evade western sanctions, Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, the Department of Justice and Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, issued a Tri-Seal Compliance Note to …

The December 2021 Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies (WA) Plenary meeting made certain decisions affecting the WA control lists, which BIS is now implementing via amendments to the Commerce Control List.

BIS is publishing a report that summarizes the findings of an investigation into the effect of imports of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets on the national security of the United States. This report was completed in June 2022 and posted on the BIS website in September 2022. 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. [88 FR 9430] 

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matt Axelrod spoke to the 12th Annual Forum on U.S. Export & Re-export Compliance for Canadian Operations Jan 31 in Totonto.