Administration Targets Export Control Reform Beyond List Changes
The transfer of items from the U.S. Munitions List (USML) to the Commerce Control List (CCL) remains the flagship objective of the administration’s Export Control Reform (ECR) Initiative but the administration is planning broader efforts to streamline export controls in the future, according to officials speaking at an Atlantic Council forum on July 31. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Defense Trade and Regional Security, Beth McCormick, said the aim is enhanced interagency integration on numerous levels of export control.
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There is an interagency effort underway that targets "the possible creation of a single licensing agency, with right now the fact that currently the Department of State and Department of Commerce are those agencies,” said McCormick, adding that administration officials are also exploring the implementation of a combined enforcement center and an “integrated information technology system.”
McCormick noted the USML-CCL transfer effort has now revised eight of 21 USML categories through two sets of joint finalized rules, set to take effect in October and January following a 180-day adjustment period. Proposed rules to date, according McCormick, address 13 USML categories. The deputy assistant secretary pledged the administration would fully revamp the USML by the end of the year. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Matt Gorman, speaking alongside McCormick and moderator Steve Grundman, emphasized the demanding nature of the ECR transfer task at hand.
“All agencies are really focused on implementing the phase we are in now, which is finalizing all the changes to the USML and CCL. As you can imagine, that’s an enormous bandwidth issue,” said Gorman. “Once we get that taken care of, we’ll look at what we need for the last phase [of introducing a unified licensing agency]. And clearly there will need to be legislation involved.”
The various agencies and branches of government are all actively supportive and attentive to ECR, however, according to McCormick. The Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Commerce are spearheading the effort but other parties play a role.
“At least from my vantage point, [Homeland Security personnel] are a full player in the interagency process,” said McCormick. “I think that we are in a very good place with the Congress. It did take us a while to get there but I think they have a fundamental appreciation now of the level of rigor that the executive branch is using for the process.”
The basic principles behind ECR are three-fold, Atlantic Council Fellow Grundman said. The administration is targeting national security preservation, streamlined export control process and invigorated trade facilitation.
“Against the backdrop of a downturn in defense spending in the United States as well as in Europe…these companies are evermore going to have to rely on exports to sustain the expectations of their shareholders and, to some degree, their customers…their indigenous customers have of their health and vibrancy and technological currency,” said Grundman at the event.