BIS Proposes to Require Electronic SNAP-R Registration & Account Maintenance

Comments are due by January 24, 2011.

Current Process Requires Paper or Fax Registration

Under its export licensing program, BIS requires most parties to submit license applications, classification requests, encryption registrations, License Exception AGR notifications and foreign national review requests in connection with the License Exceptions APP and CIV (i.e. "work items") electronically via BIS’ Simplified Network Application Processing (SNAP-R) system.

Currently, parties must register to use that system via a paper- or facsimile-based process. BIS plans to replace that registration process with one that is exclusively on-line.

BIS Proposes Phase-In of On-Line Registration and Account Administrator

BIS intends to begin operating the on-line registration system on the date of publication of the final rule, but proposes to phase-in mandatory use of on-line registration and account administrator as follows¹:

Registration if No SNAP-R Account

Paper registration allowed for 30 days, then online only. On the effective date of the final rule and for 30 days thereafter, an individual registering a filing entity that does not currently have a SNAP-R account would be able to use either the existing paper- and facsimile-based process or the proposed new on-line registration process. Beginning 31 days after the effective date of the final rule, the on-line registration process would be mandatory for all new registrants.

A person registering on-line for a filing entity that does not have a SNAP-R account would be required to enter all of the identifying information for the filing entity including a certification that the person is authorized to register the filing entity and to act as account administrator for the filing entity as well as his or her own identifying information. That person would become the initial account administrator for that filing entity.

Designation of Administrator for All SNAP-R Registrants

90 and 180 day deadlines to designate administrator. Filing entities that are registered to use SNAP-R on the effective date of the final rule and filing entities that elect to use the paper and facsimile based registration process during the first 30 days following the effective date of the final rule would be required to designate the account administrator(s) as follows:

90 days to select administrator without penalty. On the effective date of the final rule and for 90 days thereafter, any individual user who is authorized to submit work items on behalf of a filing entity would be able to continue to access SNAP-R, submit new work items and perform any necessary tasks in connection with pending work items.

In addition, the first such individual user who designates himself or herself as the account administrator would be required to certify that he or she is authorized to act as account administrator and would become the initial account administrator. BIS would inform via e-mail all other individual users who are authorized to act for that filing entity of the identity of the newly designated account administrator.

No access if no administrator, from day 91-180. During the period beginning 91 days after the effective date of the final rule and ending 180 days after the effective date of the final rule, no individual user from a filing entity that does not have at least one account administrator would be able to access the SNAP-R system for any purpose other than to designate himself or herself as account administrator for that filing entity and certify that he or she is authorized to act as account administrator.

As soon as one individual user is designated as the account administrator, that individual user as well as all of the other individual users from that filing entity would regain full SNAP-R access.

Undesignated accounts inactive after 180 days.Beginning 181 days after the effective date of the final rule, all filing entity accounts for which no account administrator has been designated would become inactive. To use the account for any purpose, an individual would have to log on to the SNAP-R Web site and furnish all of the information that would be required to register a new filing entity.

Proposed Roles of Account Administrators and Users

According to BIS' proposed regulations, the account administrator would be able to:

• add and remove individual users to and from the account of the filing entity for which it is the account administrator;
• make individual users account administrators and terminate an individual user’s administrator status;
• deactivate the account of an individual user and reactivate the account of a previously deactivated individual user;
• update the filing entity’s identifying information and any individual user’s identifying information; and
• reset individual users’ passwords.

An individual user would be able to submit to BIS export and reexport license applications (other than Special Comprehensive Licenses and Special Iraq Reconstruction Licenses), classification requests, encryption registrations, License Exception AGR notifications and foreign national review requests under License Exceptions APP or CIV.

Individual users would be required, through their account administrators, update their identifying information such as name, telephone number, facsimile number and e-mail address in their SNAP-R accounts as necessary to keep that information accurate and current.

¹This proposed phase-in schedule is laid out in BIS' proposed rule, but it is not contained in the proposed regulations.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 04/06/10 news, 10040635, for BP summary of BIS' elimination of the paper version of license-related documents that it currently issues both electronically in SNAP-R and on paper.)

BIS contact - Thomas Andrukonis (202) 482-6393

(D/N 100826397-0346-02, FR Pub 11/23/10)