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BIS Adds 34 Entities to Entity List

July 12, 2021 by Tim Warren|Top News

The Bureau of Industry and Security added 34 entities under 43 entries to Entity List, BIS said in a final rule. Fourteen of those entities are based in China and “have enabled Beijing’s campaign of repression, mass detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regions of China (XUAR), where the PRC continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity,” the Commerce Department said in a news release. Another five of the entities were “directly supporting PRC’s military modernization programs related to lasers and C4ISR programs, Commerce said.

Commerce also “added eight entities for facilitating the export of U.S. items to Iran in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) or to entities on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially-Designated Nationals List,” it said. “Commerce added another six entities for their involvement in the procurement of U.S.-origin electronic components, likely in furtherance of Russian military programs. Additionally, Commerce added one entity to the Military End-User List under the destination of Russia. Finally, Commerce removed one entity from the Unverified List, as a conforming change to this same entity being added to the Entity List for being involved in proliferation to unsafeguarded nuclear activities.”

Commerce “remains firmly committed to taking strong, decisive action to target entities that are enabling human rights abuses in Xinjiang or that use U.S. technology to fuel China’s destabilizing military modernization efforts,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. “We will continue to aggressively use export controls to hold governments, companies, and individuals accountable for attempting to access U.S.-origin items for subversive activities in countries like China, Iran, and Russia that threaten U.S. national security interests and are inconsistent with our values.”

China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a press conference that the country objects to the new entries. "The so-called 'entity list' of the US is in essence a tool for suppressing specific companies and industries in China under the pretext of human rights, and means the US uses to destabilize Xinjiang and contain China," he said. "China firmly opposes this. China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies and foil US attempts to interfere in China's internal affairs."

The rule, which takes effect July 12, imposes a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. BIS will impose a license review policy of presumption of denial for some entities and a case-by-case review for others. All exports, reexports and transfers that now require a license as a result of the increased export restrictions that were aboard a carrier to a port as of July 12 may proceed to their destinations under the previous eligibility, BIS said.

The new entries are:

Canada

China

Iran

Lebanon

Netherlands

Pakistan

Russia

Singapore

South Korea

Taiwan

Turkey

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom