On September 1, 2020, the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), and the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security issued a joint advisory on North Korea’s ballistic missile procurement activities (“Advisory”). The Advisory, among other things, identifies key participants of North Korea’s ballistic missile procurement and their deceptive tactics and key items, including materials and equipment,…
On August 27, 2020 the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published a long-awaited advance notice of proposed rulemaking (“ANPRM”) seeking public comment on criteria for identifying “foundational technologies” that are essential to US national security with a view to imposing export controls on such uncontrolled technologies. BIS will use the public comments during the interagency process aimed at developing new export controls on foundational technologies. After the interagency process is finalized, BIS will…
On August 27, 2020, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a final rule (“Final Rule”) adding 24 Chinese state-owned entities to the Entity List (the “SCS Designees”), including several subsidiaries of China Communications Construction Company (“CCCC”), due to their ties to land reclamation efforts involving artificial islands in the South China Sea. In a press statement released with the designations, the Commerce Department cited the role played by the SCS…
On August 17, 2020, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a final rule (“Final Rule”) (i) expanding the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) General Prohibition Three (the foreign-produced direct product rule, or the “FPDP Rule”) to further restrict Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and its affiliates designated on the BIS Entity List (collectively, “Huawei”) from acquiring foreign-produced semiconductors that are the direct product of certain US software and technology, (ii) removing the…