Export Control Changes for Spacecraft and Military Electronics Coming in Fall, Say BIS Officials
The final rule for transfer of items from U.S. Munitions List (USML) Category XV (Spacecraft Systems and Associated Equipment) to the Commerce Control List (CCL), as part of Export Control Reform (ECR), has undergone interagency clearance and will be published following completion of the congressional notification process, said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Kevin Wolf on March 4. Category XI (Military Electronic Equipment and Related Items) has not cleared the interagency process and is being informally floated throughout the Obama Administration, including the Office of Management and Budget, said Wolf.
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“That will be the next one in the queue,” said Wolf at a Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting. “As soon as we get formal OMB clearance and all the agencies sign off on it, then we do the two 30-day congressional notification periods and publish a final with a 180-day delayed effective date.” Category XV should be effective by October, while Commerce hopes Category XI will be effective by November, said Wolf. Inter-agency officials intend to meet next week to discuss the proposal for Category XII (Fire Control, Range Finder, Optical and Guidance and Control Equipment). Administration officials previously intended to publish the proposal for Category XII in November 2013, according to the Fall 2013 Regulatory Agenda (see 14010630).
Interagency officials will then prioritize the proposal for Category XIV (Toxicological Agents, Including Chemical Agents, Biological Agents, and Associated Equipment), said Wolf. The agencies also planned to publish a “gaggle” of rules related to harmonizing USML and CCL definitions, said Wolf. Sequestration continues to hamper implementation of USXPORTS, but once the program is completed exporters will be able to use unlimited fields in SNAP-R, as opposed to the current limitation of roughly 70, said Wolf. The SNAP-R interface will not change with the implementation of USXPORTS, said Wolf.