S. 4835
Bureau of Industry and Security License Administration Enhancement Act
Sponsor: Kevin Cramer
1 cosponsor
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
Bureau of Industry and Security License Administration Enhancement Act
This bill revises certain processes used by the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to review applications for export licenses.
Specifically, the bill requires BIS to administer any export control license or other authorization considered pursuant to an is informed letter or similar guidance or communication sent to a U.S. or foreign person in the same way as the standard interagency process. (An is informed letter notifies individual companies and universities of supplemental license requirements and requires compliance with the letter's license requirements. BIS guidance states that noncompliance with a letter is treated the same as noncompliance with any other license requirement under the Export Administration Regulations.)
The bill requires any is informed letter or similar guidance or communication to be terminated within 60 days after issuing a related license or other authorization unless BIS publishes a regulation that provides for the parameters of the letter or guidance or publishes the communication in the Federal Register.
BIS must establish standards and factors that licensing officers should use when applying a presumption-of-denial standard to license applications. BIS must submit these factors to Congress prior to publishing them in the Federal Register.
The bill expands the requirements for BIS technical advisory committees, including by requiring BIS to establish committees for specified topics.
BIS must review (and report to Congress on) the implementation of a 2025 interim final rule, which provides additional due diligence procedures regarding advanced computing integrated circuits.
Text of the bill
(a) Review. The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of Energy, shall review the implementation of the interim final rule of the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce entitled Implementation of Additional Due Diligence Measures for Advanced Computing Integrated Circuits; Amendments and Clarifications; and Extension of Comment Period, published in the Federal Register on January 16, 2025 (90 Fed. Reg. 5298; Docket No. 250108–0013), or any substantially similar successor rule, and consider any appropriate update or change to such rule to ensure that such rule is implemented effectively and fulfills the initial policy intent of such rule.
(b) Report. Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Energy, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on—
(1) the findings of the review required under subsection (a); and
(2) any change to the rule described in such subsection that has been made.
(c) Definitions. In this section:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees. The term appropriate congressional committees means—
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate.
(2) Secretary. The term Secretary means the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Under Secretary for Industry and Security.