Technology and Export Controls Section Event: China Rule
The Technology and Export Controls Section hosted a brown bag lunch on April 26, 2007. The luncheon focused on industry's view of the controversial proposed Commerce Department rule that would tighten export controls on certain products exported to China. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) proposed the rule in July 2006.
Three speakers provided complementary viewpoints on the proposed rule. Geoffrey Goodale of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP launched the discussion with an overview of the rule and the more prominent submissions elicited from industry following BIS's invitation for public comment. Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council and former Under Secretary for Export Administration at the Commerce Department, provided valuable insight into how the proposed rule came into being and its likelihood for success in the current political environment. Randall Reade, president of Zipzone Ltd. and chair of the International Committee for the Northern Virginia Technology Council, discussed the potential impact of the rule on small and medium-sized technology companies and how it might further isolate U.S. companies from the global marketplace.
The lunch was especially timely given rumblings in the export control community that the proposed rule will be finalized sometime this summer, almost a year after it was originally published.