A new rule change by the Bureau of Industry and Security will subject a broader range of chemical mixtures to declaration requirements, including for export or import. The revisions, outlined in a final rule that takes effect July 3, lowers the concentration threshold level at which mixtures containing certain controlled chemicals are subject to the declaration requirements. The change brings the U.S. Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations “into further alignment” with guidelines adopted by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2009, which established the lower concentration threshold limit for certain chemicals.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is amending the Export Administration Regulations to reflect changes to the international Missile Technology Control Regime agreed to in 2017. The changes affect the following Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) on the Commerce Control List: 1B117, 1B118, 1C111, 1C118, 2B109, 2B120, 2B121, 2B122, 6A107, 7A105, 7A107, 7A116, 9A012, 9A101, 9A115, 9A515 and 9A610. The amendments take effect Aug. 30, though any shipments already loaded, on the dock for loading or already onboard a carrier to a port of export or re-export that now require a license as a result of this rule may still be exported or re-exported without a license until Oct. 1, BIS said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department are publishing concurrent proposals to reorganize export controls on firearms, accessories and ammunition. Under the proposed rules, non-automatic and semi-automatic firearms up to and including caliber .50 (12.7mm), as well as shotguns with a barrel length of 18 inches or less, would no longer be controlled under the International Traffic in Arms regulations, and would instead be added as dual-use goods to the Commerce Control List. Comments are due July 9.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is amending the Export Administration Regulations to set new license requirements for exports and re-exports of specified target assemblies and components for the production of tritium, it said in a final rule. New ECCN 1A231 will cover the assemblies, with related production technology also requiring a license under ECCNs 1E001 and 1E201. The new controls were agreed to at the June 2017 meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. They take effect April 5.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on April 2 issued a final rule amending the Export Administration Regulations to implement recommendations on export controls related to chemical and biological weapons adopted by the Australia Group. Changes affect ECCNs 2B350, 2B351 ECCN 2B352, 1C353, 1C350 and 1C351. The final rule is effective as of April 2.
The State Department and the Bureau of Industry and Security are beginning concurrent reviews of several recently updated categories of export controls covering explosives and energetic materials, protective equipment and military electronics. State’s inquiry is focused on whether revised U.S. Munitions List categories V, X and XI remain clear and up to date, it said in a notice. The BIS inquiry focuses on the clarity and usability of new 600-series export controls created for dual-use items moved over from those three categories to the Commerce Control List, BIS said. Comments to both agencies are due April 13.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a correction to a recent final rule that was itself meant to clarify and fix errors in the Export Administration Regulations (see 1712260002). The corrections to the Dec. 27 final rule affect Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) 0D606, 0E606 and 8A609.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing a final rule effective Dec. 27 to correct typographical errors in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), amend several export control classification numbers to enhance consistency with other ECCNs, and to provide accurate references, BIS said. The amendments don’t change the EAR license requirements for the use of license exceptions, BIS said.
Proposed rules to shift goods to the Commerce Control List from the U.S. Munitions List categories that haven’t yet been covered by export control reform (ECR) likely won’t be issued until 2019 at the earliest, outgoing Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Defense Trade Controls Brian Nilsson said Dec. 14, during a Practising Law Institute export controls conference. Part of the timing has to do with the Office of Management and Budget’s rejection of a State Department pitch to release an interim final rule instead of a proposed rule to cover USML categories I (Firearms, Close Assault Weapons and Combat Shotguns), II (Guns and Armament), and III (Ammunition/Ordnance), Nilsson said. State’s Defense Trade Advisory Group is working to get on a regular quarterly meeting schedule like the Commerce Department’s technical advisory committees, to help expedite the rule’s release, he said. Nilsson announced his retirement earlier this week, citing family matters as the reason for his departure.
The Census Bureau should delete the reference to electronic export information (EEI) in its definition of a “routed export transaction,” to make the definition consistent with the Bureau of Industry and Security’s, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in Dec. 5 comments to Census. Census defines a routed export transaction as a transaction wherein the foreign principal party in interest (FPPI) authorizes a U.S. forwarding or other agent to facilitate export of items from the U.S. on its behalf and to prepare and file the EEI. BIS’s Export Administration Regulations don’t include the reference to EEI.