The Commerce Department should tread carefully when imposing new export controls, foreign investment restrictions and limits on standards collaboration, which may jeopardize the U.S.’s position in global information and communications technology supply chains, U.S. companies and trade groups told the agency this month. Some of those regulatory restrictions are already having chilling effects on U.S. competitiveness, they said, as foreign firms and countries can quickly fill voids in overseas markets and leadership positions in global standards bodies.

The U.S. announced new, coordinated sanctions this week against a virtual currency exchange for processing ransomware-related transactions, and designated several companies and people for supporting the exchange and “perpetuating” ransomware attacks in the U.S. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network also updated its ransomware payment advisory, which includes new information on ransomware trends.

The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is preparing to publish new compliance program guidelines to help industry better meet agency compliance expectations, an official said. DDTC is also “close” to rolling out its new open general license concept, another official said, which would allow blanket approvals for certain shipments to close U.S. allies, potentially including Five Eyes alliance members.

Some record-keeping and reporting requirements in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations are burdensome and causing unnecessary issues for defense exporters and the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, industry told DDTC last week. The agency can take several steps to ease these burdens, including through more automation when submitting reporting notifications and more clarity of ITAR requirements.

Bernd Lange, chair of the European Union parliament's committee on trade, said that though it may be tricky to do so -- given that the EU and other countries have different ways of encouraging cleaner industry -- the EU's proposed carbon border adjustment measure should not be a way to just hike tariffs. "We have to avoid trade wars," he said to reporters in Washington Nov. 4. He said if another country does not have a cap and trade system and doesn't have a price on carbon, that doesn't mean they don't have climate change measures. "So we need to find equivalencies," he said.

The Biden administration is still working through a sweeping review of its arms transfer policies, which is expected to place more of an emphasis on human rights concerns while helping to remove foreign barriers to U.S. defense exporters, said Tim Betts, a senior State Department official. He said the agency is in the middle of an “intensive” interagency process and “wide ranging” discussions with industry and Congress to determine how best to revise its conventional arms transfer policies, which could represent a more cautious approach compared with the previous administration.

The Bureau of Industry and Security added four technology companies in Israel, Russia and Singapore to the Entity List for “acting contrary” to U.S. foreign policy and national security through “malicious cyber activities,” BIS said in a notice released Nov. 3. The companies either operate or supply technologies in the cyberintelligence and information security sectors and will be subject to a license review policy of presumption of denial for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. No license exceptions will be available for controlled exports to the four companies. The additions are effective Nov. 4.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Oct. 25-29 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Although companies shouldn’t expect the Treasury Department's recently released sanctions review to lead to major policy changes, it could result in slightly fewer designations, clearer humanitarian exemptions and more sanctions guidance, law firms said.

The new Department of Justice enforcement and disclosure policies (see 2110280051) could substantially increase scrutiny on corporate trade violators, law firms said, especially those with a history of misconduct. The policies, announced last week by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, revealed the Biden administration’s “extensive agenda that is designed to be tough” on corporations, Wiley Rein said, and may foreshadow more changes. “As she made clear,” the firm said Oct. 29, “the Biden DOJ is serious about revamping corporate enforcement and this is just the first wave of reform.”