BIS amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to apply more restrictive treatment to exports and reexports to, and transfers (in-country) within, Nicaragua of items subject to the EAR. This rule builds on BIS’s prior actions, such as the addition of the Nicaraguan National Police to the Entity List on March 28, 2023, and advances the U.S. Government’s efforts to restrict the availability of items subject to the EAR to Nicaragua’s military and security services. This action is consistent with the State Department’s addition of Nicaragua to the list of countries that are subject to a U.S. arms embargo under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to clarify controls on radiation hardened integrated circuits, including controls on computer and telecommunications equipment incorporating such radiation hardened integrated circuits.

The Export Practitioner is continuing with a series of upgrades and enhancements with this upgraded newsletter and e-edition. When you visit our site to read this issue of Export Practitioner, you'll find we feature all of our content in an online, searchable format.  Articles online have more details and links to the source documents for reference. For questions about access or editorial, reach out anytime to info@traderegs.com or the editor, Frank Ruffing at +1.703.283.5220

When you visit our site to read this issue of Export Practitioner, you'll find we feature all of our content in an online, searchable format.  Our print and .pdf editions have links to the articles online with more details and links to the source documents where available. If you have  any questions about access, editorial, or subscriptions,, reach out to Frank Ruffing at fruffing@traderegs.com or +1.703.283.5220 

While your monthly edition of the Export Practitioner is being prepared, we wanted to share some coverage from last week's BIS Update Conference in Washington. More than 1,100 practitioners and regulators gathered to discuss developments in the nexus of export administration, enforcement, and economic statecraft. For questions about access or editorial, reach out anytime to info@traderegs.com or the editor, Frank Ruffing at +1.703.283.5220

Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party wrote to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel following reports that U.S. cell phones and other devices are receiving and processing signals from Chinese and Russian satellites in violation of the FCC’s rules.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco delivered remarks on "the Promise and Peril of AI," at Oxford University February 14, calling  an "inflection point with AI." Claiming that "AI is the ultimate disruptive technology," she vowed that the Distruptive Technology Strike Force established last year to coordinate export control activities, will place AI at the "very top" of its enforcement priority list.

OFAC is amending and reissuing the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR part 583) as a more comprehensive set of regulations that includes additional interpretive guidance and definitions, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public. Further, OFAC is adding the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, as amended to the authority citation of 31 CFR part 583. Due to the number of regulatory sections being updated or added, OFAC is reissuing the Regulations in their entirety.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced a new whistleblower program during her Keynote Remarks at the American Bar Association’s 39th National Institute on White Collar Crime Other Speakers at the event included Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri and Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen [Prepared Remarks ]

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took additional action to target shipments of Iranian commodities undertaken by the network of Iran-based, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)-backed Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal. The most recent action targets two Hong Kong- and Marshall Islands-based ship owners and two vessels for their role in shipping commodities on behalf of al-Jamal, and follows a February 27 action targeting a related vessel, the ARTURA. 

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated two individuals and five entities associated with the Intellexa Consortium for their role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology used to target Americans, including U.S. government officials, journalists, and policy experts. Since its founding in 2019, the Intellexa Consortium has acted as a marketing label for a variety of offensive cyber companies that offer commercial spyware and surveillance tools to enable targeted and mass surveillance campaigns.

Treasury is designating three entities and eleven individuals, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Brigadier General (Retired) Walter Tapfumaneyi, and …

A federal criminal complaint was unsealed Monday charging two men with conspiring to purchase and illegally export millions of dollars’ worth of fully automatic rifles, grenade launchers, Stinger missile systems, hand grenades, sniper rifles, ammunition, and other export-controlled items from the United States to South Sudan, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA).

Despite a board of directors rich with boldfaced Washington names, Lexmark parent Ninestar corporation appears unlikely to break free of its designation as an employer of modern slavery under the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act. Last week Judge Gary Katzmann denied Ninestar’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction staying the Listing Decision.  

The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced two bipartisan pieces of legislation today to protect Americans’ data and national security against foreign adversaries. Both bills were advanced to the House Floor with unanimous support. 

A federal grand jury indicted a Chinese national, charging him with four counts of theft of trade secrets in connection with an alleged plan to steal from Google LLC (Google) proprietary information related to artificial intelligence (AI) technology. According to the indictment, returned on March 5, Linwei Ding, aka Leon Ding, 38, a national of the People’s Republic of China and resident of Newark, California, transferred sensitive Google trade secrets and other confidential information from Google’s network to his personal account while secretly affiliating himself with PRC-based companies in the AI industry. Ding was arrested March 6th.

A California fashion company executive was sentenced today to 48 months in federal prison for undervaluing imported garments in a scheme to avoid paying millions of dollars in customs duties. The Executive's company, Ghacham Inc., which does business under the “Platini” brand name, imported clothing from China and submitted fraudulent invoices to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that undervalued the shipments, allowing the company to avoid paying the full amounts of tariffs owed on the imports.

EXIM reviews over the last few years indicate that critical minerals are a crucial component of multiple transformational export areas—and the U.S. lags the PRC in the proven reserves, mining, …

As announced in the Federal Register , the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will hold a public symposium on artificial intelligence (AI) and intellectual property on March 27 at 10 …

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two companies - one in Russia and one in the Central African Republic (CAR) - for their efforts in advancing Russia’s malign …