[1] The Entity List includes companies and organizations based in countries/regions including China,[7] Venezuela,[7] Russia,[7][8][9] Switzerland,[8] Germany,[8] Taiwan,[10] Japan,[11] Myanmar,[12] Singapore,[9] Canada, Iran, Lebanon, Netherlands, Pakistan, South Korea, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom,[13] Greece, Hungary, Ireland, North Macedonia[14] Israel,[9] and others.
[15] Dozens of Chinese entities participating in China's military-civil fusion or the alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang province are on the list, including companies that make surveillance gear and those that helped the Chinese military to construct artificial islands in the South China Sea.
[18]: 113 Beginning in 2008, the government used the entity list more frequently to address security, trade, and foreign policy concerns.
[3] In August 2020, 5 Russian governmental facilities were listed for participating in Russia's chemical and biological weapons programs.
[18]: 113 In March 2021, the Biden administration also announced restrictions on entities in Myanmar in response to the military coup in the country.
[12] In November 2021, Israeli technology companies NSO Group and Candiru were added for supplying spyware to foreign governments that used it to "maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers",[19] with Positive Technologies (Russia), and Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE LTD (Singapore) also listed concurrently on similar grounds.
[22][23][24] It would allow China to respond to activities that endanger its "national sovereignty, security or development interests" as well as practices such as banning or "discriminating against a Chinese entity in violation of normal market transaction principles" causing serious damage.