Global Trade & Foreign Policy Insights

Financial institutions have long asked how—and to what extent—they need to comply with export controls, and recently, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) have started to respond.

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) recently announced a two-day hybrid conference later this month on brain-computer interface (“BCI”) technology.

With the ink barely dry on the October 7, 2022 Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) advanced semiconductors and supercomputing interim final rule (the “Semiconductor IFR”), the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) continues to pull multiple levers in a bid to fundamentally change the trajectory of global advanced semiconductors manufacturing in the United States’ (“U.S.”) favor.

Over are the days of carefree selling to and offshoring supply chains through China for leading-edge semiconductors and the technologies and equipment used to produce them. On October 7, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (“Commerce”) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced surgically precise and novel export controls targeting China’s[1] semiconductor and advanced computing industries. According to the BIS Press Release, the new controls will restrict China’s ability “to produce advanced military systems including weapons of mass destruction; improve the speed and accuracy of its military decision making, planning, and logistics, as well as of its autonomous military systems; and commit human rights abuses.”

On September 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (“ANPRM”) to impose export controls on automated peptide synthesizers and associated software and technology under Section 1758 of the Export Control Reform Act. BIS noted in the ANPRM that Export Control Classification Number (“ECCN”) 1C351 currently contains mostly advanced peptides and proteins that could be used as toxins for biological weapons purposes, but there is no appropriate control on the automated synthesizers or associated software and technology capable of producing those toxins.

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security released an Interim Final Rule on September 9, 2022 changing the Export Administration Regulations’ regulation of information-sharing in international standards settings organizations.

On August 11, 2021, The Department of the Treasury and the Department of Commerce published a Fact Sheet reminding U.S. persons and exporters/re-exporters of certain U.S.-origin goods that the United States Government remains committed to promoting the ability of the Cuban people to seek, receive, or import.