On May 29, 2020, the president announced in a White House press conference the Administration’s determination that Hong Kong is no longer sufficiently autonomous from the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”), and that the US Government would take “strong and meaningful” steps to “begin the process” of reviewing and revoking the “full range of agreements” that currently provide Hong Kong with preferential treatment under US law. This determination follows Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s certification…
On May 19, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published an interim final rule effective on May 15, 2020 amending the Export Administration Regulations’ (“EAR”) General Prohibition Three (the “foreign-produced direct product rule”) and Entity List to impose new controls on the reexport, export from abroad, and transfer (in-country) of certain foreign-produced semiconductor-related items when such items are the direct product of certain designated US technology or software and are destined…
On April 28, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published two new final rules and a proposed rule in the Federal Register amending the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to tighten restrictions on exports of technology to China, Russia, and Venezuela. According to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, these actions are intended to combat efforts by entities in China, Russia, and Venezuela to use certain US technologies obtained through civilian supply chains…
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.