The Commerce Department wants input by April 28 on how it should structure its internet and communications technology and services preclearance or licensing process. It said it won't have an ICTS licensing regime in place by May 19, as predicted by the previous administration. “While the Department understands that business decisions must often be made within tight timeframes, the Department may not be able to determine whether a particular ICTS transaction qualifies for a license or pre-clearance without detailed information and analysis," said Monday's Federal Register. "Considering this tension, should the Department issue decisions on a shorter timeframe if that could result in fewer licenses or pre-clearances being granted, or would the inconvenience of a longer timeframe for review be outweighed by the potential for a greater number of licenses or pre-clearances being issued?” DOC didn't comment Wednesday on when it might have ICTS rules ready.

Trade policy on China should prioritize technology issues and set “benchmarks" for a "phased rollback" of Trade Act Section 301 tariffs, the Information Technology Industry Council wrote new U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai Tuesday. It encouraged Tai to "move swiftly" on the commitment she made at her Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing to install "a transparent, predictable, and rapid process for tariff exclusions.” Reforming the tariff exclusions process would be "very high on my radar" if confirmed, Tai told the committee (see 2102250043). Noting USTR has investigated the digital services taxes policies of several U.S. trade partners, the group asked the agency “to discourage further proliferation of such measures.” USTR didn't comment Wednesday, and ITI didn't answer our queries about whether it got a response from the agency. The Chinese tariffs are “there to be punitive,” rather than to stop China’s allegedly unfair trade practices, ITI CEO Jason Oxman told us in January (see 2011090043).

The Biden administration should partner with democratic countries to combat China’s tech strategy, a bipartisan group of ex-national security officials wrote Tuesday. They urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to consider provisions in the Democracy Technology Partnership Act from Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va.; Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Ben Sasse, R-Neb.; Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; and Todd Young, R-Ind. “The bill offers an important idea: creating a diplomatic mechanism to execute a national security strategy, which places technology competition and international partnerships at its center,” the group wrote. Signers included: ex-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter; ex-Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper; ex-Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig; ex-Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Michael Hayden; ex-National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley; former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy; and former Department of State Policy Planning Director Anne-Marie Slaughter.

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security revised the commerce control list and export administration regulations for changes made during the 2019 Wassenaar Arrangement plenary, eliminating some encryption reporting. BIS expects to “reduce the regulatory burden” for U.S. companies, said Monday's Federal Register. That's when the final rule took effect. Email notification isn't required for certain “publicly available” encryption source code and beta test encryption software. The agency eliminated self-classification reporting for certain “mass market” encryption products and will allow self-classification reporting for some components of mass market products and their “executable software.”

The Commerce Department should expand export restrictions on China’s top chipmaker to prevent it from accessing more manufacturing equipment, wrote Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas. Their letter last week to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo asked the agency to apply the foreign direct product rule to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., which would restrict the company’s ability to import certain foreign-made semiconductor equipment with U.S. technology. SMIC would face similar restrictions imposed by the Bureau of Industry and Security on others on the entity list, including Huawei. The department and SMIC didn't comment Monday.

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security plans to issue another set of emerging technology controls this year and hopes to propose them for multilateral control in 2022, said Matt Borman, BIS acting assistant secretary-export administration. Borman said he hopes BIS can fall into a more predictable “sequence” for its emerging and foundational technology control effort and move past last year’s pandemic disruptions. The “ideal scenario” is to seek comment “during the course of this year, so that we can tee them up early next year” for a Wassenaar Arrangement meeting, Borman told the department's Emerging Technology Technical Advisory Committee meeting. “That's the sequencing I'd like to get us into.” BIS plans to share the proposals with advisory committees “relatively soon,” he said Friday. “We want to make sure that the regime discussions are as informed as possible."

Personal protective equipment importer Radia Enterprises became the first complainant in the massive Section 301 litigation in the U.S. Court of International Trade to name new U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai as a defendant. The 1974 Trade Act doesn't authorize USTR “to engage in an indefinite trade war,” said the Friday complaint (in Pacer) from Radia, which does business as Spectrum Uniforms. Like the more than 3,700 other complaints flooding the court since September, it seeks a declaratory judgment that the tariffs are unlawful and a refund of the Lists 3 and 4A duties paid. Tai won Senate confirmation last Wednesday on a 98-0 vote (see 2103170042). She was sworn in late Thursday.

Sony Electronics joined the massive Section 301 litigation inundating the U.S. Court of International Trade by hiring a sole practitioner, David Newman of Nyack, New York, instead of a big multinational law firm to file a complaint (in Pacer) on its behalf Wednesday arguing the List 3 and 4A tariffs on Chinese imports are unlawful and should be refunded. Joining the suit as co-plaintiffs were Sony Latin America and Sony Interactive Entertainment, the arm of the company responsible for the PlayStation 5. Sony argues “the same cause of action” as the first-filed HMTX Industries/Jasco Products case in September, that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative overstepped its 1974 Trade Act by imposing tariffs that had no link to the Section 301 investigative report's finding of serious Chinese trade misbehavior. It also alleges USTR violated Administrative Procedure Act protections against rulemakings that lack transparency. An attachment to the complaint lists more than 15 dozen import categories to which Sony has List 3 or 4A exposure. Though the vast majority are for capital goods, not finished products, one standout listing is for the Harmonized Tariff Schedule’s 8528.72.64.60 subheading for finished TVs sourced from China on List 4A, with screen sizes exceeding 45 inches. No other categories of finished TVs from China are listed. Sony, like other TV brands playing in the premium tier, is believed to source most of its big-screen products from Mexico. Sony didn’t respond to questions Thursday.

The U.S. should form a strong global technology alliance and promote better interagency cooperation on technology policies to more effectively compete with China, former government officials said. They said this must start with the White House and Congress embracing industrial policy and pouring resources into protecting critical tech. “There are people in the tech world who understand that China is catching up,” said WestExec Advisors co-founder Michele Flournoy at a Center for a New American Security event Tuesday. “If we don't do something different, they're going to surpass us." CNAS national security expert Loren DeJonge Schulman said the Biden administration recognizes the importance of international standards setting bodies for critical tech, where the U.S. has ceded leadership roles to China. Although the U.S. tried to become more involved in those bodies, including issuing a rule last year that let companies more easily participate in bodies in which Huawei is a member, Schulman wants more action. Form a stronger technology partnership with like-minded allies, advised Sue Gordon, Pallas Advisors senior adviser. The Biden administration can learn from some mistakes made by the Trump administration, including its failure to form a strong coalition against Huawei, she said. “Huawei is a great example where it was really hard for our partners to catch up to where we wanted to go once they had already made a bunch of decisions on their own.” The White House and China's embassy didn’t comment Wednesday.

Chief Judge Timothy Stanceu of the U.S. Court of International Trade will assume senior status at the court April 5, said an updated listing Wednesday on the U.S. Courts website. Stanceu, who turns 70 this year, was a 2003 appointee by President George W. Bush. It's speculated that Judge Mark Barnett, the longest-serving active judge on the court, will become chief judge. Barnett sits on the three-judge panel presiding over the massive Section 301 litigation, assigned there by Stanceu last month (see 2102050038).