Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)

On August 28, 2023, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) proposed new rules to streamline and strengthen the Section 232 Exclusions Process for Steel and Aluminum imports. The proposed rules will build on the five existing interim final rules and respond to public comments received by BIS since February 2022. BIS

What You Need to Know

  • Key takeaway #2 Failure to initiate an internal investigation promptly after discovering a potential export controls or sanctions
  • On June 28, 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security issued a press release reporting formal cooperation amongst the Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council (“Five Eyes”) to expand enforcement of export controls.  Five Eyes—an intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and United States—formalized its cooperation

    On April 18, 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) released a memorandum entitled, “Clarifying Our Policy Regarding Voluntary Self-Disclosures and Disclosures Concerning Others” (the “April Memo”).  The April Memo highlights additional penalties and incentives to encourage exporters – and whistleblowers – to disclose potential violations of the

    On March 28th, BIS issued a final rule amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to confirm that protecting human rights worldwide is a basis for adding entities to the Entity List. Additionally, BIS added 11 entities from Burma, China, Nicaragua, and Russia to the Entity List.

    As reflected in the decision by the

    On February 24, 2023, the United States and other G7 nations announced a number of new sanctions and export control measures coinciding with the one-year mark of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. Shortly after these expansive sanctions and export controls were announced, the Departments of Justice (“DOJ”), the Treasury (“Treasury”), and Commerce (“Commerce”) issued their

    On Friday, the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued its latest set of export controls in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The broadest expansion of U.S. export controls on Russia since last fall, Friday’s actions are separate and distinct from the new sanctions regulations imposed by the U.S. Department

    New U.S. Designations: On October 26, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”) designated nine individuals and twelve entities for their involvement in the Russian Federation’s corruption and influence campaign in Moldova.  The designations included Igor Yuryevich Chayka, and Ivan Alesksandrovich Zavorotnyi, an associate of Chayka, for their

    New U.S. and UK Sanctions Partnership: On October 13, 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and the UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”) announced that they had concluded multi-day meetings in London involving technical exchange of information between the two sanctions authorities.  The agencies have decided to enhance OFAC-OFSI cooperation further, including

    On October 7, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) simultaneously published a final rule strengthening the antiboycott regulations in Part 766 of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) (the “Final Rule”), as well as a memorandum on the new rule’s implementation (the “Final Rule Memo”), issued by the Assistant Secretary