On October 7, 2019 the Department of Commerce (DOC) added 28 Chinese entities to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List, which identifies entities known or believed to pose a risk to national security or foreign policy interests of the U.S. This addition amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), which imposes additional licensing requirements, limits the availability of licensing exceptions, and restricts export or re-export to entities on the List. The newly added Chinese entities include government agencies and companies that develop surveillance technology, such as voice and facial recognition. DOC stated that these "entities have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups." This is a significant use of the Entity List to explicitly condemn human rights violations. The DOC press release is available here.
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