Industry Should Expect BIS to Continue to Be 'Very Active' on Export Controls, BIS Official Says

Industry should expect the Bureau of Industry and Security's increased activity around export controls to continue, including more additions to the Entity List and the “refinement” of export controls for Hong Kong, said Tim Mooney, a BIS senior export policy analyst.

“We're in a very active period in terms of changes to the [Export Administration Regulations],” Mooney said, speaking during a virtual conference hosted by the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Sept. 17. He said to expect changes to the Entity List and more actions surrounding BIS’s effort to place controls on emerging and foundational technologies (see 2008260045). The agency has added more than 100 entities to the Entity List in the last several months and has introduced a host of restrictions on exports to Huawei and on shipments to military end-users in China (see 2008260038, 2008170029, 2005220058 and 2007090075).

BIS also will continue to revise controls for specific countries, including for Hong Kong. The agency suspended certain license exceptions for exports to Hong Kong in June (see 2006300050). “If you watch the news, you're hearing about Huawei, you're hearing about leaders in China,” Mooney said. “You can anticipate there'll probably be more refinements of the controls for country-related policies, including for destinations such as Hong Kong.”

He also mentioned the Unverified List, which he said “is becoming much more active. So you want to make sure you’re screening parties against transactions, because it's definitely going to be a very active area continuing to go forward.”

Mooney added that BIS is working to create a “new license type” in the Automated Export System for exporters selling arms under the State Department’s Foreign Military Sales program. The license would apply to items that would normally be subject to the EAR but aren’t because “they're being exported under FMS,” Mooney said. He said the new license will “allow you to more easily identify those [exports] in AES.” BIS hopes to finalize that change by the end of this year or early 2021, Mooney said.