Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 20–21 December 2022 OFAC published two final rules (87 FR 78470 and 87 FR 78484) amending regulations across more than 30 sanctions programs to add general licenses (GLs) authorising four categories of humanitarian activity: (1) certain NGO transactions for disaster relief, health, democracy support, education, environmental protection, and peacebuilding; (2) provision of agricultural commodities, medicine, medical devices, replacement parts, and software updates for medical devices to blocked persons for personal, non-commercial use; (3) US government official-business transactions; and (4) official-business transactions of designated international organisations (e.g. UN, ICRC). The rules amended 29 CFR parts spanning Nicaragua, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Yemen, and more than two dozen other sanctioned programs. The NGO GL excludes knowing fund transfers to blocked persons unless specified criteria are met, preserving the core blocking perimeter while lowering humanitarian-access friction.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued an interim final rule (IFR, 87 FR 55241, FR Doc. 2022-19415) amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to authorize the release of specified items to all entities on the Entity List without a licence when such release occurs in the context of a "standards-related activity." The IFR expanded a narrower June 2020 predecessor that had applied only to Huawei and its affiliates; this 2022 rule extended equivalent authorization to the full Entity List. Authorized items include EAR99 technology and software, items controlled solely for anti-terrorism (AT) reasons, and certain cryptographic technology (ECCNs 5D002 and 5E002) used in standards development. The rule amended 15 CFR §§ 734.10, 744.11, 744.16, and Part 772 and was superseded by a broader 2024 IFR that recasted the carve-out as an activity-based exclusion from EAR jurisdiction entirely.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amended the Commerce Control List (CCL) under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement four emerging and foundational technology decisions agreed at the December 2021 Wassenaar Arrangement Plenary meeting, pursuant to ECRA Section 1758. The rule adds new export controls on ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor substrates (gallium oxide Ga₂O₃ and diamond), ECAD software for Gate-All- Around Field-Effect Transistor (GAAFET) integrated circuit development, and Pressure Gain Combustion (PGC) technology for advanced gas turbine engines. Controls require a licence for items destined to countries listed in the NS:1 and AT:1 columns of the Commerce Country Chart; ECAD software controls (ECCN 3D006) have a delayed compliance date of October 14, 2022.

BIS finalized changes to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) governing controls on cybersecurity items — primarily intrusion software, command-and-control platforms, and surveillance tools capable of disrupting or monitoring information systems without authorization. The final rule, effective May 26 2022, revises License Exception ACE (Authorized Cybersecurity Exports) originally established by an October 2021 interim rule and narrows end-user carve-outs for government end users in Country Group D:5 and A:6 destinations. Exports of affected ECCNs (4A005, 4D001, 4D004, 4E001, 5A001.j, 5B001, 5D001, 5E001) to Country Groups E:1 and E:2 remain prohibited; D:1 through D:5 government-end-user transactions require a license.

BIS published an interim rule on January 12, 2022 delaying the effective date of its October 21, 2021 cybersecurity items interim final rule by 45 days, from January 19, 2022 to March 7, 2022. The underlying October 2021 rule establishes new Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) for cybersecurity items — including intrusion software, command-and-control platforms, and surveillance tools — and introduces License Exception ACE (Authorized Cybersecurity Exports) for national security and anti-terrorism purposes. The delay was granted after twelve public comments highlighted significant compliance challenges, with BIS acknowledging the need for additional time for industry to update procedures and for BIS to issue supplemental guidance before the controls took effect.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) extended for a second time the temporary unilateral export control on software classified as ECCN 0D521 — "software specially designed for training a Deep Convolutional Neural Network to automate the analysis of geospatial imagery and point clouds" — adding a third year of control through January 6, 2023. The extension was required because COVID-19 prevented the Wassenaar Arrangement from formally convening in 2020 or holding sufficient deliberations in 2021 to consider the US multilateral control proposal submitted in 2020. Only License Exception GOV (§ 740.11(b)(2)(ii)) is available; all other exports require a specific license from BIS.