On October 9, 2019, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) added 28 Chinese entities to the Entity List because they are accused by the US Government of being associated with human rights violations and abuses against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinijiang Uighur Autonomous Region (“XUAR”). All exports, reexports, or in-country transfers of items (i.e., goods, software, technology) subject to the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”), including EAR99 items, are now subject to a license requirement to such entities. The final rule also includes an extensive list of aliases for these entities.
On September 9, 2019, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published two Frequently Asked Question (“FAQ”) documents (available here and here) on the Huawei Entity List and Temporary General License (“TGL”) and the Huawei TGL Extension (the amended TGL issued on August 21, 2019 is available here). See our blog post on the extension of the Huawei TGL here.
The key clarifications made by BIS in the two sets of FAQs include the following:
On August 30, 2019, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published Due Diligence Guidance urging companies to employ heightened due diligence when exporting to Pakistan (the “Pakistan Guidance”). The Pakistan Guidance specifically focuses on (i) supplemental licensing requirements applicable for items (e.g. goods, software, or technology) subject to the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) that may be destined to nuclear or missile activities, and (ii) best practices for screening customers in Pakistan to prevent diversion of items subject to the EAR to unauthorized end uses and end users.
BIS published the Pakistan Guidance in an effort to bring attention to compliance risks related exports/reexports to Pakistan after investigations by the BIS Office of Export Enforcement “revealed schemes” by Pakistani entities attempting to acquire items subject to the EAR for entities listed on the Entity List. The Pakistan Guidelines appear to reflect an enforcement focus on Pakistan from BIS, so companies exporting/reexporting items subject to the EAR to Pakistan should take into account these BIS recommendations to ensure compliance.
Key takeaways from the Pakistan Guidance are found below:
Effective August 19, 2019, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) (i) added forty-six (46) additional non-US affiliates of Chinese-headquartered Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (“Huawei”) to the Entity List, and (ii) extended and modified the Temporary General License (“TGL”) authorizing certain transactions involving the export, reexport, and transfer of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to Huawei and its designated non-US affiliates. The extended and modified TGL (“New TGL”) covers the Huawei entities added to the Entity List on May 16, 2019, as well as the ones added on August 19, 2019. The New TGL will be effective through November 18, 2019. As further discussed below, the New TGL (i) mitigates the impact of the Entity List designation by waiving the Entity List restrictions for certain transactions, and (ii) imposes strenuous certification requirements for the use of the New TGL. Please see our blog post on the initial designation of Huawei and its non-US affiliates here and the original TGL here.