BIS Final Rule on Revisions to the Export Administration Regulations

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule which amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) at 15 CFR Parts 738, 742, 772, and 774, effective June 28, 2004, in order to remove certain license requirements with respect to new North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members as well as to make certain conforming corrections and clarifications.

Removal of license requirements for seven countries which recently joined NATO. According to BIS, 15 CFR 742.6(a)(2) requires a license for the export or reexport of certain military related items, such as military vehicles and certain specially designed commodities used to manufacture military equipment for reasons of regional stability'' in support of foreign policy.

1. CFR 742.7(a)(1)-(3) of the EAR also requires a license for the export or reexport of certain crime control and detection instruments and equipment, and related technology and software as a matter of foreign policy, to promote the observance of human rights throughout the world.

The EAR do not require a license for the export or reexport of these items to NATO member countries. Therefore, this final rule removes the license requirements for these items to the 7 countries that recently joined NATO: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

This rule also removes the X'' from the RS:2 column (Regional Stability) and from all CC columns (Crime Control) for these countries in the Commerce Country Chart in Supplement No. 1 to 15 CFR part 738.

Definition of "NATO" revised to add 10 countries. In addition, this final rule revises the definition of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in 15 CFR part 772, by adding the 7 countries that recently joined NATO, plus Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, which were inadvertently not added to the definition of NATO in the final rule published in the March 18, 2002 Federal Register. (See ITT's Online Archives or 03/22/02 news, 02032230, for BP summary of the March 18, 2002 final rule removing license requirements for certain RS and CC items exported to Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland.)

Definition of "COCOM" revised. This rule also amends the definition of COCOM (Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls) by replacing the phrase COCOM members included the NATO countries, except Iceland, plus Japan and Australia'' with a specific list of countries that were members of COCOM, to clarify that the membership of NATO at the time COCOM existed was different than it is today.

Clarification of license exception TSR eligibility. This rule also clarifies License Exception TSR (Technology and Software under Restrictions) eligibility in the License Exception sections of two Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCN) 9D018 and 9E018 in the Commerce Control List.

According to BIS, the TSR paragraphs for these ECCNs are being revised to state state, "Yes for Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and NATO countries that are also listed in Country Group B of Supplement No. 1 to 15 CFR part 740 of the EAR.''

(The TSR paragraphs for these ECCNs had previously stated Yes for Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and NATO," but have been revised as described above because TSR is only available for export and reexport to countries listed in Country Group B.)

-BIS states that public comments will be accepted on this final rule

BIS Contact - Eileen Albanese (202) 482-0436

BIS Final Rule (D/N 040614182-4182-01, FR Pub 06/28/04) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/06jun20041800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/pdf/04-14625.pdf