Technology exports from the USA to the global drone market leader DJI and the Chinese chip manufacturer SMIC are now illegal. The transfer of US technology to these and other companies within China is also illegal under US law. That is what the US government decided last week. Exceptions are possible, but difficult to obtain apart from epidemic aid.

DJI and SMIC are now on the same level Export ban list, on which Huawei, ZTE, Hikvision and numerous other companies, including some German ones, are already on. The reasons are different. While the US government sees national security at risk from SMIC’s operations, it accuses DJI of human rights violations. SMICs chips are an important part of various weapons of the People’s Army of the People’s Republic of China.

Partnership with Xinjiang Police DJI aims to “export of devices to oppressive regimes around the world “have made possible what is directed against the foreign policy interests of the USA. In addition, DJI itself enabled “far-reaching human rights violations within China through the improper collection and analysis of genetic material or high-tech surveillance”. What exactly this is about is not clear. DJI has entered into a “strategic partnership” with the police in northwest China’s Xinjiang Province.

Xinjiang is known for the brutal repression of the native Uyghurs and drones are a popular monitoring tool. At the beginning of the year, the US Department of the Interior decommissioned its 800 Chinese drones. In May of last year, the US Department of Homeland Security warned US companies about the risk to corporate data associated with the use of Chinese drones.

131 Entries with reference to Germany Heise online has asked DJI for an opinion. DJI has told US media that DJI drones will be available in the US as usual. New on the prohibited list are five universities in the People’s Republic of China, including the well-known Beijing Technical University.

In Germany, the Regensburg-based car parts company MRS and the Rüsselsheim aircraft maintenance company MSI are newly affected. MSI is in bankruptcy under self-administration. Heise online does not yet have any reasons for these entries. All in all 131 organizations and individuals with reference to Germany are now on the so-called Entity List. This also includes branches of foreign companies such as the airline North Korea.

The legal basis for the US export ban is a summer 2018 passed law called Export Control Reform Act of 2018. It is supposed to put US export regulation on a legal foundation. This had previously been handled by presidential decrees. The law regulates restrictions on export, re-export and domestic passing on of newly emerging technology as well as basic technology.

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