The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls announced March 29 that new 6.0 versions of DSP PureEdge Forms 5, 6, 61, 62, 73, and 74 are available for use. Users should download and use that version of those forms for submission to DTrade2. Form version 5.0 or earlier submissions will be rejected after March 29, the agency said.
State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls announced three name change notifications March 27:
Public comments on proposed changes to Category XVI of the U.S. Munitions List -- which covers nuclear weapons and related articles -- are now available on the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls website (here). The Department received minimal comments on changes to the category: clarification on what simulation tools are transitioning to Department of Energy control, for example, and clarification on whether accessories of such simulation tools would remain on the USML. The proposed changes are part of the Obama Administration’s Export Reform Initiative. Read the proposed rule on Category XVI changes (here).
A handful of commercial spacecraft companies praised proposed changes to Category IV of the U.S. Munitions List, but warned against too-broad definitions and too-strict Missile Technology Control Regime guidelines, in public comments released March 26. The proposed changes are part of President Obama’s Export Reform Initiative. The comments were submitted to the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls on specific changes to Category IV, which includes launch vehicles, guided and ballistic missiles, rockets, torpedoes, bombs and mines (read the proposed rule here).
The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said March 26 DTrade2 and TRS will be undergoing system maintenance on March 29. DTrade2 and TRS systems will be unavailable from 5:30-11:00 p.m. EST.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the 2008 convictions of Zhen Hour Wu and Guofeng Wei for numerous counts of export violations, but vacated convictions related to the duo’s alleged violations of the U.S. Munitions List because of flawed jury instructions. In their defense, Wu and Wei, Chinese nationals who ran an electronics parts broker company, attacked the U.S. arms export control system as so vague it violates the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls released its report on end-use monitoring of defense articles and defense service commercial exports in 2012. For that fiscal year, the agency conducted 820 “blue lantern checks,” which monitor licenses and shipments to verify the legitimacy of proposed transactions. The number was only a slight increase from 2011. In 2012, the Near East had the lowest amount of unfavorable checks -- when findings weren’t consistent with the authorization request -- a change from 2011, when that region had the highest amount of unfavorable checks. Europe and South Central Asia had the highest rate of unfavorable checks, about 27 percent, the report said. Europe typically has the lowest; the increase was largely due to a single entity, the report said.
The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls posted a warning on its website on sequestration's effects to the agency. The notice says: "Due to Sequestration, travel will be limited until further notice to those activities and events that are considered to be "mission critical" for the Department of State. While DDTC takes its commitment to outreach very seriously we cannot guarantee that we will be able to support requests for speakers outside of the greater Washington DC area at this time."
State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls announced one name change notifications March 19:
State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls announced various name and address change notifications from March 7-19: