Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2666 actions· ✨ 90 recent

Pakistan's Directorate General of Customs Valuation (DGCV), acting under the Federal Board of Revenue, issued Valuation Ruling No. 2036/2026 on 16 January 2026 under Section 25A of the Customs Act, 1969, fixing revised minimum customs (assessable) values for imported ammunition. The ruling supersedes the prior ammunition valuation ruling (No. 1995/2025, dated 28 March 2025) after the Directorate found that declared transaction values no longer reflected prevailing international market prices. Global Trade Alert logs China, Oman and Turkiye as the principal ammunition-exporting origins affected by the revised benchmark. No specific per-unit values or an aggregate trade value were disclosed in the sources reviewed, so this is filed as a qualitative severity rating pending disclosure of the underlying value schedule.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule on August 19, 2021 (FR Doc 2021-17647, RIN 0694-AF47) making technical corrections and clarifications to the January 23, 2020 rule that transferred firearms, guns, and ammunition from USML Categories I, II, and III under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to the Commerce Control List (CCL). Corrections address cross-reference errors, clarify Firearms Convention Import Certificate validity periods relative to BIS license periods, simplify commodity description requirements in electronic export filings, and add technical notes on controlled items (e.g. BMG cartridges, barrel blanks). ECCN 0A018 is removed as unused; ECCN 0A501.y.2–.y.5 entries are reserved. The rule is effective September 20, 2021.

On June 1, 2021, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published FR Doc 2021-11585 (86 FR 29189) notifying the public that, effective May 26, 2021, BIS had assumed jurisdiction over certain firearms-related "technology" and "software" — specifically digital files (CAD/AMF/G-code) for 3D-printed firearms and CNC milling instruction files — under ECCNs 0D501 and 0E501 of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The transfer was triggered by the Ninth Circuit's April 27, 2021 vacatur of a March 6, 2020 district-court preliminary injunction that had blocked the technology/software prong of the broader January 23, 2020 USML-to-CCL transfer rule. Internet posting of such files now requires a BIS license (review policy: denial), completing the full implementation of the January 2020 rule transferring USML Categories I–III (firearms, guns, and ammunition) from ITAR/State Department to EAR/Commerce jurisdiction.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to revise the licensing review policy for items controlled for Crime Control (CC) reasons, explicitly embedding human rights considerations into the review calculus. License applications for CC-controlled items — including stun guns, less-lethal ammunition, restraints, and biometric equipment such as fingerprint analyzers, polygraphs, and voice-stress devices — will be assessed case-by-case, with presumption of denial when the destination country or region exhibits civil disorder or when there is a risk items will be used to violate or abuse human rights (through censorship, surveillance, detention, or excessive force). The rule also extended human rights review as a factor to nearly all other EAR license applications, not only CC-flagged items.