The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls announces that its public websites and applications will be offline for maintenance on Friday, June 24, 2011 from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. EST. During this time, DDTC's website, D-Trade, EFS, ELLIE, MARY, and the DTAS-Online portal page will be offline and not available.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a final rule, effective June 24, 2011, which raises the Adjusted Peak Performance (APP) for digital computers under Export Control Classification Number 4A003, and moves Albania and Croatia from Computer Tier 3 to Computer Tier 1¹ with regard to export control requirements for high performance computers (HPCs).

The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued an order denying certain export privileges for a period of 15 years and imposing a civil penalty of $500,000 against Curtis Hickox for his involvement in the unlicensed export of epoxy paint and epoxy paint thinner for use in a nuclear power plant that was under construction in Pakistan and under the ownership and control of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, an entity that is listed on the Entity List.

Export.gov has announced that registration is available for a number of upcoming export-based webinars.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has posted the following updated schedule for its export control and compliance training outreach efforts:

Export.gov has announced a series of trade missions that are scheduled for the remainder of June through October 2011.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has submitted a final rule to the Office of Management and Budget entitled "Exports and Reexports to the Newly Established State of the Republic of South Sudan."

At a recent AAEI conference¹, an official from the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls discussed improvements made since 2006 in reducing the processing times for its export license applications and requests for commodity jurisdiction determinations. However, processing times for both rose in the first quarter of 2011.

At a June 14, 2011 BIS Committee meeting¹, the trade discussed the Administration’s export control reform efforts with BIS. Among the issues discussed were the Administration’s efforts to define ‘specially designed’ and progress made on making the Export Enforcement Coordination Center operational.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a final rule, effective June 16, 2011, which adds a new License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization (STA) to the Export Administration Regulations to authorize the export, reexport, and transfer (in-country) of specified items to destinations that pose relatively low risk of misuse.