Oct 2010 DTAG Meeting Minutes on CJs, UK and Australia Treaties, Etc.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls recently published the minutes of the Defense Trade Advisory Groups’ October 20, 2010 meeting. The minutes include a review of progress on export control reform, updates on recently changes programs, suggested “positive” lists for certain USML categories, etc.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 10/28/10 news, 10102815, for initial BP summary of DTAG’s draft reports on suggested “positive” lists for certain USML categories.)
The following are highlights from these minutes (other than the suggested “positive lists” for USML categories):
Response time has decreased for CJ submissions. A commodity jurisdiction request (CJ) is submitted to determine whether an item or service is covered by the U.S. Munitions List (USML) and therefore subject to export controls administered by the Department of State. As of September 3, 2010, all CJs were submitted electronically to reviewers, which decreased response time from 196 days in 2006 to 41 days in October 2010, although the CJ caseload had doubled. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 09/03/10 news, 10090312, for BP summary of DDTC FAQs on CJs.)
MARY export license status system update. DDTC implemented the MARY Status Retrieval System in March 2010 to allow industry users to access their D-Trade 2 export license statuses without having to log onto the D-Trade 2 interface. Department of State officials stated that the export license status reporting system MARY was running and that companies had access to their license status and could provide this to their customers. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 03/09/10 news, 10030935, for BP summary of DDTC’s implementation of MARY.)
Implementation of UK and Australia defense trade treaties. Department of State officials mentioned that Congress voted to implement the Defense Trade Treaties with the UK and Australia, which would allow the export or transfer of certain defense articles and defense services controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) between certain persons in the U.S. and the UK or between certain persons in the U.S. and Australia, without the need for export licenses or other ITAR approvals. Officials noted that implementing regulations would not be based on a “positive” list (it would be too lengthy), but would follow the Canadian model. The issues of how to create the “community” and “operational programs and activities” specified in the treaties were still under review, along with related issues such as changes to the AES data base that would enable parties to claim the treaty exemptions when shipping items. In addition, it was noted that changes to Australian law were needed and the U.K. needed to publish a new Open General Export License to cover the treaty activities. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 09/13/210 news, 10101311, for BP summary on U.S. bill to implement defense trade treaties with the UK and Australia.)
Progress on three other issues depend on USML changes. DDTC Managing Director Kovac stated that there had been progress on other issues previously addressed by the DTAG, including the see-through rule, exemption on the export of replacement parts, and the “by or for” exemption, which should be published by the end of the year. However, he noted that such rules depended on a re-write of the USML and to put DDTC out of the CJ business would require clear distinctions in USML categories.