Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

BIS amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to revise Country Group designations for Ukraine, Mexico, and Cyprus, effective immediately on publication (85 FR 83756, FR Doc 2020-26552). Ukraine was elevated from Country Group D to Country Group B, making it newly eligible for eight EAR license exceptions (LVS, TMP, RPL, GFT, BAG, AVS, APR, ENC) and shifting dual-use export licensing to a standard national-security basis. Mexico and Cyprus were simultaneously added to Country Group A:6, granting both countries access to Strategic Trade Authorization (STA) exceptions for less-sensitive CCL-controlled items. The changes reflect each country's multilateral export-control regime membership and policy alignment with U.S. national security interests.

The U.S. Department of Commerce published a final rule establishing the Aluminum Import Monitoring and Analysis (AIM) system (19 CFR part 361), modelled on the pre-existing steel monitoring system. Importers, customs brokers, or their agents must obtain an online AIM import license for every entry of covered aluminum products, disclosing the countries where the primary aluminum used was smelted and where the product was most recently cast. The rule was announced 23 December 2020; after a stay and delay of the compliance date, it took full effect 28 June 2021, from which point a license became mandatory for all covered aluminum imports.

MOFCOM Order No. 4 of 2020, issued and effective 19 September 2020, establishes the Unreliable Entity List (UEL / 不可靠实体清单) regime — China's primary countermeasure framework for designating foreign companies, organisations, and individuals that are deemed to endanger Chinese national sovereignty, security, or development interests, or that apply discriminatory measures against Chinese entities in violation of normal market principles. The UEL inter-ministerial Working Mechanism, administered through MOFCOM, may impose restrictions or prohibitions on the designated entity's China-related import/export activities, investment in China, and entry or stay of senior personnel in China, as well as fines. Promulgated under the Foreign Trade Law of the PRC and the National Security Law of the PRC, the Provisions serve as the statutory parent for every UEL designation announcement since 2023, and operate as the structural peer of the US BIS Entity List / OFAC SDN architecture and the simultaneously promulgated Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law framework.

The US Department of Commerce preliminarily determined that producers and exporters of silicon metal from Kazakhstan received countervailable subsidies at a 120.00% economy-wide rate, and instructed US Customs and Border Protection to begin collecting cash deposits from importers at that rate. The countervailing-duty investigation was initiated 2020-07-27 following a June 2020 petition by Globe Specialty Metals, Inc. and Mississippi Silicon LLC, the same domestic petitioners behind the concurrent antidumping cases against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, and Malaysia. 2019 Kazakh silicon metal imports subject to the case were valued at approximately $14.9 million.

The US Department of Commerce preliminarily determined that silicon metal from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland is being sold in the United States at less than fair value, and instructed US Customs and Border Protection to begin collecting cash deposits from importers. Bosnia and Herzegovina's sole respondent, R-S Silicon d.o.o., and the all-others rate were set at 21.41%; Iceland's sole respondent, PCC Bakki Silicon hf, received 47.54%, with the all-others rate at 37.83%. A concurrent antidumping investigation of silicon metal from Malaysia, initiated on the same 2020-07-27 date, was not part of this preliminary determination and remained pending. The case followed a July 2020 petition by Globe Specialty Metals, Inc. and Mississippi Silicon LLC.

The Investitionskontrollgesetz (InvKG, "Investment Control Act") is Austria's horizontal, statutory FDI screening regime. Published as Article 1 of the Federal Law BGBl. I Nr. 87/2020 on 24 July 2020 and entering into force on 25 July 2020, the Act replaced the previous narrow §§25a–25e Außenwirtschaftsgesetz 2011 (Foreign Trade Act) regime — under which fewer than 10 permits were issued from 2013 to mid-2020 — and transposes EU Regulation 2019/452 establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union. The InvKG introduces mandatory ex-ante notification and approval of non-EU / non-EEA / non-Swiss acquisitions where the acquirer crosses any of the 10% / 25% / 50% voting-rights thresholds in an Austrian target operating in the critical sectors listed in Annex Part 1 (especially sensitive: defence, energy / water / telecoms critical infrastructure, dual-use technology, cybersecurity, AI, quantum technology, robotics, semiconductors, biotech, health, vaccines) and 25% / 50% in the sectors listed in Annex Part 2 (broader, including media, food-security, electronic communications infrastructure, financial infrastructure). Administered by the Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Wirtschaft (BMAW), with case decisions taken in coordination with the Komitee für Investitionskontrolle (inter-ministerial Investment Control Committee) and, where the case is escalated to the EU cooperation mechanism, the Commission and EU peer Member States. The InvKG is Austria's functional peer of US CFIUS / FIRRMA, UK NSI Act 2021, Germany AWG §§55–62, France Décret 2014-479 / R. 151-1 et seq., Italy Golden Power Decree, Netherlands Wet Vifo, Denmark investeringsscreeningsloven, and Belgium ISC. Sunset clause: originally limited to 30 June 2022 under §17(2) InvKG; permanently extended by BGBl. I Nr. 80/2022 of 14 July 2022.