Articles Posted in Export Control Reform

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The EU’s new Joint Communication on a European Economic Security Strategy proposes a methodology for an EU economic security risk assessment and identifies measures to mitigate these risks. The Strategy is noteworthy because it offers a comprehensive view of the EU’s overarching strategy for multiple existing or proposed new EU legislative and policy tools including export controls, FDI screening and domestic investment in critical technology through the EU’s own proposed Chips Act, and how these tools would work together to reduce EU economic security risks. It also signals the EU’s intention to align more closely with the U.S. regarding China, including with respect to reducing supply chain dependencies and new tools like outbound investment controls.

(This is the second post of a three-part series on U.S., UK and EU alignment on economic security strategy.)

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On June 8, 2023, the United States and the United Kingdom announced the Atlantic Declaration for a Twenty-First Century U.S.-UK Economic Partnership (“Declaration”). The Declaration reaffirms the need to adapt and reimagine the unique alliance between the two countries. From critical and emerging technologies to digital transformation, clean energy, and defense collaboration, businesses can leverage the partnership to exploit new trans-Atlantic opportunities.

(This is the first post of a three-part series on U.S., UK and EU alignment on economic security strategy.)

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In a recent enforcement action against GM, the Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division emphasized that employers subject to export control obligations must still comply with federal laws against discrimination on the basis of immigration status, national origin or citizenship. Guidance accompanying the enforcement action indicates that the DOJ has expectations of companies in their hiring processes that may create challenges for efforts to comply with export control regulations that protect sensitive goods, software and technology.

In “Where Employment and Trade Compliance Intersect—Protecting Your Company in a World of Dueling Enforcement Risks for Export Controls and Anti-Discrimination,” colleagues Aaron R. Hutman, Julia E. Judish and Toochi L. Ngwangwa explore this recent action, the new guidance and the competing compliance obligations that companies will need to navigate as a result.

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On August 15, 2022, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published an interim final rule introducing new controls on four “emerging and foundational technologies” that were identified during the December 2021 plenary meeting of the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement. These items are two substrates of ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors (gallium oxide and diamond), electronic computer aided design (ECAD) software specially designed for the development of integrated circuits with Gate-All-Around Field-Effect Transistor (GAAFET) structure, and pressure gain combustion (PGC) engine technology for the production and development of gas turbine engines.

The new controls were implemented effective on August 15, 2022, with the exception of the controls for ECAD software, which will be effective on October 14, 2022. BIS has requested public comments only on the new ECAD controls, which are due by September 14, 2022.

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On October 5, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a final rule that imposes new multilateral controls on six “emerging technologies,” agreed during the December 2019 plenary meeting of the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies (Wassenaar Arrangement).  These recently developed or developing technologies “essential for the national security of the United States” include forensic hacking tools, surveillance software, sub-orbital craft, and manufacturing tools and technology used to make integrated circuits and semiconductors.

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On September 18, 2020, the U.S. Commerce Department published two rules defining the scope of prohibited transactions related to the mobile applications, WeChat and TikTok. The scope of prohibited transactions clarified the two parallel executive orders (EOs) issued by the Trump administration on August 6, 2020, which required the Commerce Department to impose restrictions on both platforms.

The scope of prohibited transactions are the same for both WeChat and TikTok. Prohibited transactions do not include individual use of these mobile platforms to exchange personal or business information. However, the rule would effectively shut down WeChat and TikTok within the United States via mobile application storefronts (e.g., Apple Store and Google Play), and additional restrictions would further impair the apps’ functionality and user experience.

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GettyImages-478409256-Treasury-300x261On September 15, 2020, the U.S. Department of Treasury published a final rule that removes the mandatory declaration requirement for filings to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) based on North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and replaces it with a determination based on U.S. export control criteria. The final rule largely adopts the changes outlined in the proposed rule that was published on May 21, 2020, and which we discussed previously, with some added clarifications. The final rule will be effective on October 15, 2020.

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Since the handover of Hong Kong by the United Kingdom to China in 1997, Hong Kong has enjoyed separate treatment from the mainland by the United States, other countries and international organizations pursuant to the “one country, two systems” model agreed to by the Chinese government.  The United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 authorized separate treatment of Hong Kong in trade and economic relations as long as Hong Kong remains “sufficiently autonomous” from the mainland.  Hong Kong’s special privileges under this law, and the laws of other countries, have contributed to Hong Kong’s status as a powerful global financial and trading hub. Continue reading →

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On May 21, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury published a proposed rule that would revise the mandatory declaration requirement for foreign investments involving a U.S. business that produces, designs, tests, manufactures, fabricates, or develops one or more critical technologies.

Currently, a key element of the mandatory declaration requirement is whether the U.S. business engaged in the specified activities involving critical technologies utilizes that critical technology, or designs the technology specifically for use in, one or more industries identified by North American Industry Classification (NAICS) codes.

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On December 26, 2019, the Department of State published in the Federal Register an interim final rule amending the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to define “activities that are not exports, reexports, retransfers, or temporary imports,” and specifically to clarify that the electronic transmission and storage of properly secured unclassified technical data via foreign communications infrastructure does not constitute an export. The rule also defines “access information” and revises the definition of “release” to address the provision of access information to an unauthorized foreign person.

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