On July 31, The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) will publish a notification in the Federal Register amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to suspend the availability of all License Exceptions for Hong Kong that provide differential treatment as compared to those available to China.  This EAR change implements the announcement made on BIS’s website on June 30, 2020 that these License Exceptions are no longer available for exports and reexports to Hong Kong, and transfers within Hong Kong, of all items subject to the EAR.  To implement the change, BIS is adding a new, Hong Kong-specific paragraph to EAR Section 740.2 (“Restrictions on all License Exceptions”), as well as making some other conforming changes to Section 740.2.

BIS is taking this action as part of revised U.S. policy toward Hong Kong in response to the newly imposed security measures on Hong Kong by China.  Although the Federal Register notice does not make other changes to the EAR regarding Hong Kong or China, the notice indicates that BIS, in consultation with other executive branch agencies, continues to review the EAR to assess whether additional amendments are warranted.