On June 5, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) followed through on their May 22 press release to add 33 parties, and their aliases, to the Entity List for ties to weapons of mass destruction and military activity within China, or human rights abuses in the Xinjian Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
What does it mean to be on the Entity List?
The Entity List, Supplement No. 4 to Part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), contains foreign persons, businesses, research institutions, government and private organization that pose a significant risk of being, or becoming, involved in activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy of the United States of America.
These parties are subject to specific additional licensing requirements and often face a presumption of denial. Exporters who ship to those on the Entity List, without a license, could face jail time, fiscal penalties and lose their export privileges entirely.
Who was added?
In the matter of human rights violations and abuses, China’s Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science and Aksu Huafu Textiles Co. were added to the Entity List for engaging in said violations and abuses. Seven additional commerce entities were added for enabling China’s high technology surveillance in the XUAR. Those parties are CloudWalk Technology; FiberHome Technologies Group and the subsidiary Nanjing FiberHome Starrysky Communication Development; NetPosa and the subsidiary SenseNets; Intellifusion; and IS’Vision.
These nine parties join 28 others who were added to the Entity List in October 2019, for engaging in the XUAR repression campaign. Their licensing requirement is listed as a case-by-case review for ECCNs 1A004.c, 1A004.d, 1A995, 1A999.a, 1D003, 2A983, 2D983, and 2E983, and for EAR99 items described in the Note to ECCN 1A995 and a presumption of denial for all other ECCNs.
The other 24 parties, based in China, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom (UK), were added on the basis of their procurement, or believe of their intent to be become involved in the procurement of U.S. origin commodities and technologies for military end-use in China. These parties all face a presumption of denial in export licensing.
Ten of the entities are owned by, operated by, or directly affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), which is the technology complex responsible for the research, development and testing of China’s nuclear weapons and has been on the Entity List under the destination of China since June 30, 1997 (62 FR 35334).
The 24 entities that were added to the Entity List for WMD and military activity are:
- Beijing Cloudmind Technology Co., Ltd.
- Beijing Computational Science Research Center
- Beijing Jincheng Huanyu Electronics Co., Ltd.
- Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research
- Chengdu Fine Optical Engineering Research Center
- China Jiuyuan Trading Corporation
- Cloudminds (Hong Kong) Limited
- Cloudminds Inc.
- Harbin Chuangyue Technology Co., Ltd.
- Harbin Engineering University
- Harbin Institute of Technology
- Harbin Yun Li Da Technology and Development Co., Ltd.
- JCN (HK) Technology Co. Ltd.
- K Logistics (China) Limited
- Kunhai (Yanjiao) Innovation Research Institute
- Peac Institute of Multiscale Science
- Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd.
- Qihoo 360 Technology Company
- Shanghai Nova Instruments Co., Ltd.
- Sichuan Dingcheng Material Trade Co., Ltd.
- Sichuan Haitian New Technology Group Co. Ltd.
- Sichuan Zhonghe Import and Export Trade Co., Ltd.
- Skyeye Laser Technology Limited
- Zhu Jiejin
Harbin was added to the list for acquiring and attempting to acquire U.S. technology for Chinese missile programs for use by the People’s Liberation Army. The BIS notices to the Federal Register indicate that Shanghai Nova Instruments Co., Ltd., K Logistics (China) Limited, and Zhu Jiejin have been involved in the procurement of items subject to the EAR for possible use in missile and unmanned aerial vehicle applications in China without the licenses required pursuant to §§ 744.3 and 744.21 of the EAR. JCN (HK) Technology Co. Ltd. is co-located with Reekay Technologies, which was added to the Entity List on November 12, 2015 (80 FR 69856) for supplying U.S.-origin items for the Iranian defense industry.
Other modifications were made to the Entity List that added new addresses for existing Chinese parties on the EL that include the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (commonly known as CETC 38 and 55) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics.
If you export to any of these entities and have questions on obtaining the correct licensing, reach out to Mohawk Global Trade Advisors.
By Kristen Morneau, Senior Trade Advisor