US Officials Oppose More Time for Comments on Foundational Tech

After many associations urged the Commerce Department to grant more time for comments on its next advance NPRM for foundational technologies, officials said it will consider the request but suggested industry has ample time. “There’s no surprise that it’s coming,” said Rich Ashooh, assistant secretary-export administration, at the Bureau of Industry and Security’s annual export controls conference this week. Nazak Nikakhtar, undersecretary-industry and security, said companies should have given “quite a bit of thought” to foundational technologies already. “That it’s been out there for a while, and everybody knows the foundational technology piece is coming, hopefully businesses have given thoughts to their comments.” Nikakhtar said BIS plans the notice “very, very soon.” BIS plans its first proposed set of rules for export controls on emerging technologies in “weeks, but not months,” Ashooh said. But Nikakhtar said Commerce is moving slowly to make sure it's fully “understanding the technologies, understanding the applications” and “going about this in the right way.” Ashooh said the upcoming controls won’t be a “categorical rule” on broad groups of technologies but instead will be applied slowly to individual components. He said BIS is working on controls on one “basket” of technologies and will continue to issue more controls as they're created. “This process will have no end,” he said. “It will continue as technologies continue.”