The United States government is reportedly all set to finalise rules that will limit exports of sophisticated technology to adversaries like China. The report comes through Reuters, which claims to have seen the documents.
The report further adds that the Commerce Department is putting the finishing touches on five rules covering products like quantum computing and 3-D printing technologies. These are the products that were mandated by a 2018 law to keep sensitive technologies out of the hands of rival powers.
Congress had earlier sought industry comment on a raft of high-tech sectors that it could cover under the law, from artificial intelligence technology to robotics. This led to concerns that the department would craft broad, tough regulations.
The report adds that the Commerce Department is finishing a first batch of rules that touch on just a few technologies that will be proposed to international bodies before taking effect, a reprieve for U.S. companies.
However, there’s a possibility that more rules could be issued in the future, regulating sales abroad of cutting-edge items. The document seen by Reuters doesn’t reveal information about when the rule proposals would be made public or what the controls would look like for specific countries, buyers and uses.
The rules will be submitted to international bodies for approval so that they may be implemented overseas and not just by the United States. This should establish a level playing field for U.S. companies abroad. However, this would take much longer to review and go into effect, likely until mid-2021 at the earliest.
