The latest on Russia sanctions from the International Trade and Supply Chain Team
Read Now

BIS

Subscribe to BIS

On June 28, 2022, the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a Joint Alert urging financial institutions to be vigilant against efforts by individuals or entities to evade BIS export controls implemented in connection with the Russian Federation’s further invasion of Ukraine.  After providing an overview of recent BIS actions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Joint Alert identifies commodities that present “special concern because of their potential diversion to and end use by Russia and Belarus to further their military and defense capabilities,” all of which require a BIS license prior to export or reexport to Russia and Belarus.
Continue Reading U.S. Departments of Treasury and State Expand Sanctions To Restrict Russia’s Access to Services and Economics and Combat Evasion and Backfill Activities

On June 2, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) updated the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to: (i) add 71 entities to the Entity List “for acquiring or attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of Russia’s military”; (ii) issue minor revisions, corrections, and clarifications to its Russia and Belarus export controls; and (iii) increase its administrative disclosure authorities to allow the publication of charging letters prior to a resolution of an administrative case.  The changes went into effect immediately on June 2, 2022 and were published in the Federal Register on June 6, 2022 via two Final Rules available (here) and (here).
Continue Reading BIS Adds 71 Entities to Entity List; Issues Russia/Belarus Corrections and Clarifications; and Updates EAR to Allow Immediate Publication of Charging Letters

Matthew Axelrod, the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”), told a conference held by the Society for International Affairs on May 16, 2022, that his agency is considering major policy changes to its administrative enforcement authorities.  Axelrod said the policy changes, expected to be rolled out in the next few months, are intended to incentivize export compliance by corporations under the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”).  …
Continue Reading BIS Considers More Public and Expensive Consequences for Companies Violating the EAR

This blog post covers several new sanctions and export controls that the U.S. government imposed on Russia and Belarus in the time period occurring between March 31, 2022 and April…
Continue Reading Summary of Changes in Russia/Belarus Export Controls and Sanctions Occurring From March 31, 2022 to April 22, 2022

On March 30, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) modified and expanded a list of aircraft that have flown into Russia in apparent violation of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”).  We more thoroughly discussed the implications of this list – which was first published on March 18, 2022 – in our blog post here.  The updated list adds 73 additional Boeing-manufactured aircraft and modifies tail and/or serial number information for 13 aircraft previously listed on March 18, 2022.  The full list of owners/operators include Aeroflot, AirBridge Cargo, Aviastar-TU, Alrosa, Atran, Azur Air, Nordstar, Nordwind, Pegas Fly, Pobeda, Rossiya, Royal Flight, S7 Airlines, and Utair (FC Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s private Gulfstream jet is also on the list).
Continue Reading BIS Modifies and Expands List of Russian-Controlled Aircraft Subject to the EAR Known or Suspected to Have Violated the EAR

On Friday, March 11, 2022, the White House issued Executive Order (“EO”) 14068 announcing more sanctions and export controls against the Russian Federation (“Russia”).  Concurrent with that announcement, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) released new export controls restricting the flow of “luxury goods” to Russia, Belarus, and Russian/Belarusian “oligarchs and malign actors” while the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued dozens of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”) designations and published four (4) new general licenses.

 …
Continue Reading U.S. Imposes More Russian Sanctions and Export Controls on Consumer Items and Luxury Goods, U.S. Dollar-Denominated Banknote Transactions, and Russian Oligarchs

On February 24, 2022, the U.S. imposed sweeping sanctions and export controls actions in response to the Russian Federation’s (“Russia”) “war of choice” against Ukraine.  (Husch Blackwell summarized the February 24, 2022 actions in a Client Alert published here, as well as more limited actions on February 21-22 here and here.)  The past ten (10) days have featured a flurry  of new sanctions and rapidly evolving regulations and executive orders imposed by the U.S. President, the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of the Treasury addressing the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.  Below are the latest updates in chronological order.
…
Continue Reading U.S. Imposes More Sanctions and Export Controls against Russia and Belarus

In an October 21, 2021 interim final rule (“IFR”), the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published long-awaited “cybersecurity items” controls in Categories 4 (Computers) and 5, Pt. 1 (Telecommunications) of the Commerce Control List (“CCL”) and followed the IFR up on November 12, 2021 with relevant FAQs.  The IFR will impose new export controls on certain “cybersecurity items” that relate to “intrusion software” or “IP network communications surveillance.” The IFR, originally scheduled to become effective on January 19, 2022, will now become effective on March 7, 2022.  In the January 12, 2022 notice announcing the delay, BIS stated it “may consider some modifications for the final rule” and indicated it would “provide the public with additional guidance.”  Below we describe the IFR as it currently stands.  We will update readers when BIS implements any additional edits to the IFR and/or updates its guidance.
…
Continue Reading BIS Delays Implementation of New Cybersecurity Items Interim Final Rule

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently issued a final rule amending the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to add twenty-seven (27) companies and individuals to the BIS Entity List effective November 26, 2021. These companies and researchers are alleged to have ties to China’s military quantum computing efforts as well as Pakistani nuclear and missile proliferation. The new companies added include:…
Continue Reading BIS Blacklists Certain Entities with Ties to China, Pakistan and Russia

As previously reported, in February 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14017 (“EO 14017”), which instructed various government agencies to review the current supply chain risks for critical sectors and subsectors of the Information and Communications Technology (“ICT”) industrial base and provide the executive branch with reports of identified risks. In order to comply with EO 14017, the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) recently announced that it will host a virtual forum soliciting recommendations from the public on how to strengthen the resiliency of the ICT industrial base. The ICT industrial base consists of:…
Continue Reading BIS to Host Virtual Forum on Risks in ICT Supply Chain