The Office of Foreign Assets Control unveiled an interim final rule this week that will extend the agency’s sanctions-related record-keeping requirements from five years to 10 years. The rule, effective in mid-March, will align the agency’s record-keeping rules with a similar expansion of the statute of limitations for civil and criminal violations of U.S. sanctions as part of a bill passed by Congress and signed into law earlier this year (see 2407220022 and 2404290071).

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

The House approved several export control-related bills late Sept. 9, including the Remote Access Security Act, which is designed to close a loophole that has allowed China to use cloud service providers to access advanced U.S. computing chips remotely (see 2409040046).

U.S. computing chip manufacturers need to do more to stem the flow of their export-controlled products to Russia’s defense industrial base, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Sept. 10.

The EU needs to strengthen its foreign investment screening rules and develop a new strategy to shore up its supply of critical raw materials, which will help shield EU countries from economic coercion, the European Commission said in a new report.

The banking industry’s increasing overcompliance with U.S. sanctions is leading to an uptick in unnecessary financing delays and transaction cancellations, nongovernmental organizations told the Treasury Department. They said the issues are causing hurdles for humanitarian groups trying to deliver aid abroad and raising discrimination concerns among foreigners living in the U.S.

Export controls, sanctions and investment screenings remain among the top challenges faced by U.S. companies doing business in China, according to an annual member survey released by the U.S.-China Business Council on Sept. 6.

A new set of advanced technology export controls announced by the Bureau of Industry and Security this week will apply to quantum computing, semiconductor manufacturing, 3D printing and other critical technologies that BIS said could be used by foreign militaries to harm U.S. national security. The measures, outlined in an interim final rule released Sept. 5, also include a new license exception that could allow U.S. exporters to continue shipping these technologies to a list of close American allies.

The House of Representatives plans to vote on several export control-related bills next week, including the Remote Access Security Act, which is designed to close a loophole that has allowed China to use cloud service providers to access advanced U.S. computing chips remotely.

Nazak Nikakhtar, acting head of the Bureau of Industry and Security during the Trump administration, blamed the deep state for a lack of urgency in confronting China, during a podcast interview with China Talk. Nikakhtar did not use that term, but said that it was hard for Commerce Department career officials to shift their thinking from promoting exports of goods to restricting exports or investment. Nikakhtar was previously a civil servant herself, working on antidumping and countervailing duty cases and negotiations with China.