What If the BIS Affiliates Rule Comes Into Force? – Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

What If the BIS Affiliates Rule Comes Into Force?  Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

A two-month extension of the BIS Affiliates Rule suspension, set to end November 9, 2026, was announced; formal notice is pending. By Aaron R. Hutman, Nancy A. Fischer, Stephan E. Becker, Matthew R. Rabinowitz, Sahar J. Hafeez, Erin Kwiatkowski, Narges Kahvazadeh, Daniel Steinfeld The one-year suspension of the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) “Affiliates Rule” announced in November 2025 is set to end on November 9, 2026. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated in an interview on September 23, 2026, that the Affiliates Rule suspension will be extended two months through January 10, 2027, though BIS has not yet published a notice implementing the extension. The ultimate outcome of the suspension remains uncertain as the U.S.-China trade relationship evolves and the U.S.

midterm elections approach. This alert recaps the rule, its suspension and its current status and outlines compliance steps companies should consider in case the Affiliates Rule comes into force in January 2027 or sooner. BackgroundOn September 29, 2025, BIS issued an interim final rule (90 FR 47201) amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to extend Entity List and Military End User (MEU) List restrictions to majority-owned affiliates of the listed entities. As discussed in our prior alert, the rule applies to any foreign entity that is owned 50 percent or more, directly or indirectly, individually or in