On March 8, 2022, the White House issued a new Executive Order, “Prohibiting Certain Imports and New Investments with Respect to Continued Russian Federation Efforts to Undermine the Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity of Ukraine” (“Energy-Related EO”), that, among other things, bans the import into the United States of certain Russian-origin energy products and new investments in the Russian energy sector. A new import, export, and investment ban on additional Russian sectors will be addressed via…
On February 3, 2022, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published a final rule reorganizing, clarifying, and correcting the traditional and Entity List foreign-direct product rules (“FDP Rules”) in the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). This rule does not change the substantive scope of the FDP Rules, but provides certain helpful clarifications. We previously blogged about the FDP Rules here. Reorganization: Consolidation of the FDP Rules into EAR Part 734.9 The FDP Rules…
On December 10, 2021, at the Summit for Democracy, the U.S., Australia, Denmark, and Norway, released a Joint Statement announcing an Export Controls and Human Rights Initiative (“the Initiative”) to curb the misuse of technologies by certain governments. The Initiative aims to combat digital authoritarianism in countries where software and advanced surveillance technologies have been used to hack the communications of political opponents and journalists, shape public opinion, and censor information the government deems threatening. In…
On November 26, 2021, the US Commerce Department published a Proposed Rule that would amend its Interim Final Rule on Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain (“ICTS Regulations”) to specifically address connected software applications. The Proposed Rule would make changes prompted by Executive Order 14034 (“EO 14034”) to the ICTS Regulations. We previously blogged about the ICTS Regulations here, here, and here. The Commerce Department is seeking public comments on the…