Export Control Changes Coming Soon for Fire Control Systems, Aircraft Engines, BIS Officials Say
The Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department could issue final rules by early October moving less sensitive articles from the U.S. Munitions List (USML) Category XII (fire control, range finder, optical and guidance and control equipment) to the dual-use Commerce Control List (CCL), Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Eric Hirschhorn said Sept. 15. The rulemaking is in the congressional notification period, which is scheduled to end Sept. 20, said Hirschhorn, speaking at a meeting of the President’s Export Council Subcommittee on Export Administration (PECSEA). BIS and State have also submitted their final rules to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and CCL to delineate types of military aircraft and military gas turbine engines subject to each control list, respectively, for Congressional notification, which bodes well for chances those final rules will be issued before President Barack Obama’s term expires Jan. 30, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Kevin Wolf said. The only engines moving from the CCL to USML under the rule are engines specific to military aircraft, Wolf said.
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Despite experiencing unanticipated challenges in parsing out certain communications satellites as being for civil or defense uses, a rulemaking should be issued by the end of 2016, Wolf said. Still, there are “no guarantees” that BIS and State will complete a rulemaking in that time frame, he said. Wolf also said BIS’ Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee and State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) are in the process of starting a defense trade working group.
BIS, State and Treasury continue working toward an interagency “single window” export platform where exporters can apply for and receive licenses, but the Energy Department might not participate in this program as previously thought, as DOE licenses are “so few and specialized,” Hirschhorn said. But DOE officials have almost finished reviewing what data elements should be collected in ACE, and DOE and BIS will share the results with industry soon, he added. DOE didn’t comment. BIS has already shared the ACE licensing portal landing page with industry, Hirschhorn said.
DDTC Chief Information Officer Karen Wrege during the meeting said several questions remain as to how ACE will function for exports, including where data will be stored; for instance, whether it will reside on a cloud or be published by the Commerce Department. Although all data will eventually flow to USXPORTS for interagency review, the “diagram” for how it will get there hasn’t yet been drawn, she said. One meeting participant expressed concern about ACE’s level of user-friendliness for exports, noting that it limits exports to 10 line levels for items in USML Categories I (firearms, close assault weapons, and combat shotguns), II (materials, chemicals, microorganisms, and toxins) and III (ammunition/ordnance). Wrege said she would communicate those concerns to CBP, but cautioned that improvements likely won’t happen before the end of 2016, as CBP will continue to be “under the wire” to fix issues with ACE. CBP didn’t comment.