Secretary of Commerce Ross announced the Entity List additions on Friday, May 22, 2020, via separate press releases, citing 24 of the entities for “represent[ing] a significant risk of supporting procurement of items for military end-use in China,” and the remaining 9 entities for their complicity in human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
The addition of the 24 entities apparently supplying US commodities and technologies for military end use follows BIS’ recent interim final rule amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) § 744.21 end user/end use requirements, and appears to arise from the same U.S. concern surrounding civil and military integration in China. The entities include governmental and commercial organizations based in China, Hong Kong, and the Cayman Islands.
The 9 entities added for their reported ties to abuses in the XUAR include the PRC Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science, as well as eight Chinese companies, and form the second tranche of entities listed by BIS explicitly for human rights violations.
Pursuant to § 744.11(b) of the EAR, BIS may add entities to the Entity List for “which there is reasonable cause to believe, based on specific and articulable facts, that the entity has been involved, is involved, or poses a significant risk of being or becoming involved in activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States…”
Though Ross’ statements do not specify, it seems likely the additions will impose an export licensing requirement for all items subject to the EAR to the newly listed entities, though exports to the 9 human-rights related additions will likely include the same case-by-case standard of review for licensing of specified ECCNs.