U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Archives - Page 16 of 17

Embassies and Island Wide Wi-Fi by July in Cuba

President Barack Obama announcedWednesday that the U.S. and Cuba will now reestablish diplomatic ties and reopen embassies in their respective capitals. The announcement comes just one month after the Secretary of State removed Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list. Although it would take an act of Congress to lift the trade embargo, reopening embassies is another brick in the foundation of normalizing trade relations. With the new embassies opening in July, there will be greater contact between the US and the Cuban people which will ultimately lead to a change in the US’s attitude towards the trade embargo.

A new US embassy is not the only thing coming to Cuba in July. Cuba’s state-run telecommunications company is planning on opening a network of Wi-Fihotspots that spans the entire island. They also plan on cutting the price of hourly access in half to $2. However, even though costs are less and there will be more Wi-Fi hotspots, the internet […]

By Jennifer Diaz|2022-07-07T10:49:21-04:00July 1, 2015|Cuba, Export, Technology, U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)|2 Comments

Freight Forwarder Pays $125,000 Mitigated Penalty – Avoid This & Learn 11 Steps to Exporting

Aramex Emirates, LLC, located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), agreed to pay a $125,000 civil penalty to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) for the unlicensed export and reexport to Syria, via the U.A.E., of network devices and software without the required BIS licenses. The Under Secretary of Commerce Eric L. Hirschhorn commented:

Today’s settlement shows the importance of compliance with U.S. law by foreign freight forwarders handling items subject to U.S. export controls.

[…]

By Jennifer Diaz|2022-07-07T10:15:22-04:00May 27, 2014|Best Practices, Export, penalty, Pre-compliance, U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)|0 Comments

Federal Government Shutdown ENDS

Co Authored by Omar Franco

Last night Congress voted to end the first federal government shutdown in seventeen years and avert a default on U.S. debt. The deal brokered between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) provides government funding through Jan. 15, 2014, at almost the same rate as in FY-2013 after automatic spending cuts. The debt limit would be extended through Feb. 7, 2014, if requested by President Obama. The legislation includes a mechanism to allow Congress to block the suspension through action on a resolution of disapproval. The Health and Human Services Department would be required to ensure that health-insurance exchanges verify the eligibility of all individuals applying for tax credits and cost sharing under the Affordable Care Act. Federal employees would be paid for furlough days resulting from the shutdown and members of Congress would be denied their cost-of-living increase in FY-2014.

The Senate passed the bill first with 81 senators voting in favor and 18 voting against the compromise. The House then passed the legislation 285-144, relying mostly on Democratic votes to pass the bill. Alongside the bill, the Senate agreed to a provision that House and Senate leaders would appoint a conference committee to negotiate a budget agreement by Dec. 13.

By Jennifer Diaz|2022-07-07T10:05:51-04:00October 17, 2013|Export, FDA Issues, U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)|0 Comments

Impact of Government Shutdown

Co Authored by Omar Franco
The impact of the federal government shutdown, which began October 1, 2013, will be deeply felt by importers and exporters alike. Most government services deemed “essential” by the federal agencies will continue, but “non-essential” services will be discontinued until funding is restored.

This early on, there is no obvious resolution of the budget dispute to tie the FY-2014 government funding to Affordable Care Act (ACA) reforms. Both the House and Senate are entrenched in their positions and they are not scheduled to negotiate any time soon. One side will have to capitulate or bipartisan negotiations will have to lead to a resolution. We feel that negotiations will probably not occur this week as both sides need to assess how the markets and voters will respond to the federal government shutdown. Depending on the public response, we will see movement by one side, probably by Republicans, if the reaction is seen as damaging. As of today, the Dow was up, so the market reaction has been subdued. The reaction from voters is still unknown, but if it is subdued as well, the shutdown will be prolonged. We anticipate the shutdown will last through this week at a minimum.

Some lawmakers are considering broadening the debate by including the debt ceiling. Pressure from resolving the government shutdown could also resolve the debt ceiling issue. The longer the shutdown continues, the more likely the resolution will be tied to the debt ceiling. We […]

By Jennifer Diaz|2022-07-08T16:13:19-04:00October 2, 2013|Export, U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC)|0 Comments

Export Regulations and Cloud Computing…Beware!

Co Authored by Perry Sofferman

Forrester Research predicts that the global market for cloud computing services will have increased from $40.7 billion dollars in 2011 to approximately $241 billion dollars by 2020. You can see the ZDNet article here. This figure includes the Platforms as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service and Business Process as a Service delivery models. What this information reveals is that while cloud computing is already a significant part of operational strategy for many businesses (as well as governmental agencies), we should expect it to not only grow as a market but to become even more intertwined with the way we conduct business and store data on a daily basis. Consequently, businesses in general and export compliance officers in particular need to be vigilant and make sure that their use of this important technology is consistent with US export regulations.

When using cloud services, the user is uploading data to available servers in the cloud provider’s server facility(ies). The type of data uploaded and the location of the server where that data is stored can potentially trigger export compliance issues for the user. In fact, the ultimate location of the particular server used to hold the user’s data may be unknown to either the user or the cloud provider. Data can be redirected to various servers in different countries in order to properly allocate server space based on fluctuations of usage in different time zones. It should be noted that this is […]

By Jennifer Diaz|2013-05-28T15:31:00-04:00May 28, 2013|Export, Intellectual Property Rights, U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)|0 Comments

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