BIS Expects "Bright Line" Review & STA Rule to Benefit Parts, Chem/Bio Items
The Bureau of Industry and Security's Materials Technical Advisory Committee held a partially open meeting on May 12, 2011 to provide an update on BIS' final rule on the license exception Strategic Trade Authorization (STA) and on the process of revising the U.S. Munitions List (USML).
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Upcoming License Exception STA to Ease Burden for Chemical/Biologic Items
A BIS official stated that they will be publishing a final rule on license exception STA in the next few weeks. License exception STA will allow exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) of specified items to destinations determined to pose little risk of unauthorized use of those items. The official stated that with the license exception STA rule, BIS hopes to ease the licensing burden for certain exports of items controlled for chemical and biological reasons to close allies.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 03/23/11 news, 11032308, for BP summary of a BIS official's statement that BIS is near a final draft of the final STA rule, which was expected to be narrower and to include fewer countries than proposed. See ITT's Online Archives or 04/11/11 news, 11041145, for BP summary of BIS submitting this final rule to the Office of Management and Budget for approval.)
USML/CCL “Bright Line” Review Expected to Benefit Parts and Components
The official stated that BIS is still working on the bright line review of various categories of the USML to clarify the jurisdiction between the USML and the Commerce Control List (CCL), and expects to see relief in the licensing burden after the bright line review as items fall off the USML, particularly for parts and components.
Once Key Terms in Harmony, Rule on Transitioning Items from USML Next
According to the official, BIS' next priority is to publish a proposed rule outlining the process of transitioning the items from the USML to the CCL. The official states he expects BIS to have a proposed rule on this transition process and on how this process specifically applies to certain categories of the USML to CCL before the end of the year. The official noted that BIS was very close to completing the review of USML Category I, and that once the transition process was in place, review of USML Category VII could be completed.
However, BIS needs to harmonize key terms, such as "specially designed", "parts and components," "technology," "technical data," "production technology," and "development technology" before a transition process and revisions to USML categories can be completed.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 05/11/11 news, 11051110, for BP summary of the Defense Trade Advisory Group's draft definition of "specially designed."
See ITT's Online Archives or 12/09/10 news, 10120914, for BP summary of BIS' proposed rule that would add a new license exception STA.)