BIS Adds 11 to Entity List, Including Hikvision Subsidiaries

The Bureau of Industry and Security this week added 11 entities in China, Myanmar, Nicaragua and Russia to the Entity List for various activities that have contributed to human rights abuses, the agency said in a final rule effective March 28. The entities include procurement firms, a police entity and technology and electronics companies, including several subsidiaries of Chinese surveillance company Hikvision, which was added to the Entity List in 2019 (see 2205090014).

The entities will face a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and BIS will review license applications under a presumption of denial. All exports that now require a license as a result of this rule that were aboard a carrier to a port as of March 28 may proceed to their destinations under the previous eligibility as long as the items have been exported before April 27, BIS said. Any items not exported before midnight April 27 will require a license.

The additions include five Chinese entities that Hikvision lists as subsidiaries: Luopu Haishi Dingxin Electronic Technology Co., Moyu Haishi Electronic Technology Co., Pishan Haishi Yong’an Electronic Technology Co., Urumqi Haishi Xin’an Electronic Technology Co. and Yutian Haishi Meitian Electronic Technology Co. BIS said all five companies have been “implicated in human rights violations” in Xinjiang, including through China’s “campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention and high-technology surveillance” against the Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups.

The agency also added Russia-based Aviatech and Aviazapchast and Myanmar-based Miya Win, Myanmar New Era Trading Company and Suntac Group for selling, procuring and servicing military equipment that allows Myanmar’s military to carry out human rights abuses, “as well as brutal aerial attacks that have killed and injured civilians.” Also added was the Nicaraguan National Police, sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2020 (see 2003050055), which has been involved in “serious human rights abuses” in Nicaragua.

BIS also amended the EAR to “explicitly confirm” that protecting human rights worldwide is a “basis” for adding entities to the Entity List. The agency said the decision is “consistent” with a recent court ruling -- Changji Esquel Textile Co. Ltd. v. Raimondo -- which “affirmed BIS’s authority to add parties to the Entity List for human rights-related reasons.”