Two members of an open radio access network alliance have halted activities over concerns about possible ramifications of the U.S. decision to place three Chinese alliance members on the Commerce Department's Entity List. Ericsson and Nokia responded that they remain committed to the project. Resolving the issue could require the O-RAN Alliance to throw out its Chinese members or receive a U.S exception.
The Commerce Department should investigate the potentially unfair pricing activities of a Chinese drone company that was recently placed on the Entity List, two lawmakers said in an Aug. 31 letter to Secretary Gina Raimondo. Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., said Shenzhen DJI Sciences and Technologies Ltd., which was added to the Entity List in December (see 2012180039), may have dropped its prices for drones by as much as 70% in 2015, which allowed it to capture a significant share of the U.S. drone market. The lawmakers also said DJI should remain on the Entity List and deserves “additional scrutiny” because its drones have been used for human rights abuses in China. “We ask that DJI remain on the Department’s Entity List and that the Department investigate its pricing of consumer drones which has harmed American consumers,” the letter said. Commerce didn’t comment.
After talks with the Commerce Department broke down over when Hong Kong-based apparel company Changji Esquel Textile (CJE) could be dropped from the agency's entity list, CJE resumed its litigation against the designation in federal court. The company, part of the Esquel group, on Aug. 27 filed a motion to re-set a hearing on a preliminary injunction against its placement on the list.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Aug. 16-20 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a U.S. semiconductor manufacturer $469,060 for working with others to export chip-making equipment to Chinese companies on the U.S. Entity List, BIS said in an Aug. 16 order. The company, California-based Dynatex International, violated the Export Administration Regulations because it didn’t obtain the required BIS license before shipping the equipment. Although BIS said Dynatex knew it was shipping items to blacklisted companies, the agency substantially reduced the fine as part of a settlement agreement.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Aug. 9-13 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Biden administration should continue to increase Chinese trade restrictions but has done a good job pressuring the country so far, said Nazak Nikakhtar, a former acting head of the Bureau of Industry and Security during the Trump administration. Nikakhtar recently told Nikkei Asia she and others were initially “nervous” that President Joe Biden would ease some restrictions but has been pleased to see a continuation of many of the same export control measures begun under President Donald Trump.
A group of House Republicans called on the Commerce Department to add Chinese smartphone maker Honor Device Co. Ltd. to the Entity List and asked for a briefing with the agency’s End-User Review Committee to ensure the administration is “moving with enough speed” on export controls. Because Huawei sold Honor Device Co., the company can access technology that “should be restricted,” the lawmakers said in an Aug. 6 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The House’s Republican Study Committee released a counterproposal to the Senate’s Endless Frontier Act that would call for a host of new sanctions against China, continue U.S. export control authorities and make some changes to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. The committee’s Countering Communist China Act, released July 29, calls for broad U.S. sanctions actions, including designations against Chinese technology applications, various senior government officials, foreign people that steal U.S. intellectual property and “foreign persons that knowingly spread malign disinformation … for purposes of political warfare.” The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control would also be authorized to hire 10 new employees to “carry out activities of the Office associated with the People’s Republic of China.”
The U.S. may need to create new, stronger tools other than its current sanctions and export controls to penalize foreign countries that violate international laws, said Nazak Nikakhtar, former acting undersecretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security. While Nikakhtar cautioned the U.S. against overusing trade restrictions, she also said they need to be bolstered because some foreign governments and companies are “easily” circumventing them.