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BIS to Hold Virtual Forum to Discuss Semiconductor Supply Chain Issues
March 29, 2021 |Commerce Dept.

The Bureau of Industry and Security will hold a virtual forum April 8 to allow industry and other members of the public to present ways the agency can help boost the competitiveness and capacity of the U.S. semiconductor industry, BIS said in a notice this week. The agency requested written comments on semiconductor supply chain issues earlier this month (see 2103110048) but will hold the forum to give commenters a chance to provide “oral remarks.” The comments and remarks will help inform the Commerce Department’s report to the White House as part of a February executive order to address supply chain shortages of semiconductor chips (see 2102240047), BIS said. The forum will include a virtual panel made up of BIS and other agency officials and will run from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Registration closes at 5 p.m. April 1.

ITI Asks Commerce to Delay Supply Chain Rule
March 24, 2021 |Commerce Dept.

The Commerce Department should delay implementing an interim final rule on securing the information and communications technology and services (ICTS) supply chain, the Information Technology Industry Council commented on March 22 in the Commerce docket. The rule is meant to address foreign adversaries’ exploitation of software and hardware sales and intellectual property theft (see 2101150055). “Casting an overly wide net to secure America’s ICTS supply chain in the form of import restrictions as contemplated under this IFR could inhibit the development and commercialization of new technologies in the United States, therefore undermining U.S. technological leadership and competitiveness by driving R&D programs and business 'transactions' to jurisdictions that do not impose such constraints,” the association said. The “breadth coupled with the broad discretion the rule grants to the Secretary continue to cast a cloud of uncertainty over almost all ICTS transactions and could undermine the national security objectives it purports to address, while also hindering U.S. competitiveness,” ITI said.

Commerce Subpoenas Chinese Sellers of Communications, IT Equipment
March 18, 2021 by Mara Lee|Commerce Dept.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, in announcing March 17 subpoenas on Chinese sellers of information and communications technology and services, that these investigations will help the U.S. determine whether the purchases of this equipment or software is damaging to American national security. “The Biden-Harris Administration has been clear that the unrestricted use of untrusted ICTS poses a national security risk. Beijing has engaged in conduct that blunts our technological edge and threatens our alliances,” she said. “The Administration is firmly committed to taking a whole-of-government approach to ensure that untrusted companies cannot misappropriate and misuse data and ensuring that U.S. technology does not support China’s or other actors’ malign activities.”