BIS Final Rule Revises CCL to Conform With Wassenaar Changes, Addition/Expansion of Unilateral U.S. Controls, Etc. (Part V)

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule, effective July 15, 2005, which revises certain entries on the Commerce Control List (CCL) that are controlled for national security reasons in Categories 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Part I (telecommunications), 6, 7, 8, and 9, and definitions to conform with changes in the Wassenaar Arrangement's List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies and Statements of Understanding maintained and agreed to by governments participating in the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies (Wassenaar Arrangement).

In addition, this final rule adds Slovenia to the list of Wassenaar member countries in the EAR. This final rule also adds or expands unilateral U.S. controls on certain items consistent with the amendments made to implement the Wassenaar Arrangement's decisions.

This is Part V of a multi-part series of summaries on this BIS final rule. Part V focuses on the remaining amendments affecting CCL Category 3 (Electronics) as well as two subsequently issued corrections pertaining to this final rule. Part IV covered other changes to CCL Category 3. See future issues of ITT for additional summaries.

Amendments to Category 3 - Electronics (Continued)

ECCN 3B001. The final rule amends ECCN 3B001 by:

a) Revising the dimensions parameter for anisotropic plasma dry etching equipment with cassette-to-cassette operation and load-locks from "0.3 &956;m or less'' to 180 nm or less'' in 3B001.c.1.a;

b) Revising the dimensions parameter for anisotropic plasma dry etching equipment specially designed for equipment controlled by 3B001.e from "0.3 &956;m or less'' to "180 nm or less'' in 3B001.c.2.a;

c) Revising the wavelength parameter for lithography equipment from "350 nm'' to "245 nm'' in 3B001.f.1.a;

d) Revising the minimum resolvable feature size for lithograph equipment from "0.35 m'' to "180 nm'' in 3B001.f.1.b; and

e) Revising the K factor of the MRF formula in the Technical Note from "0.7'' to "0.45.''

BIS states that the Wassenaar Arrangement agreed to the revisions in 3B001 because consensus was reached regarding PE-CVD equipment controlled by 3B001.d.1, one of the thresholds, "critical dimensions,'' was relaxed to 180 nm. "Critical dimensions'' or "feature size'' do not directly indicate the performance of PE-CVD equipment; however, they are related to the "design rule'' of the semiconductor devices. In order to unify as much as possible in other provisions of 3B001, 180 nm was adopted in other relevant corresponding entries of the list for consistency.

BIS notes that in order for the relaxation under 3B001.d.1 to be effective, revisions had to be made accordingly to 3B001.f.1.a (because the light source of KrF steppers are 248nm). In addition, the Technical Note to 3B001.f.1.b is revised because the level of K-factor has become lower based on the recent technological developments, e.g., the K-factor of most current lithography equipment is less than 0.45.

The final rule provides that commodities no longer controlled under ECCN 3B001 continue to be controlled for antiterrorism reasons under ECCN 3B991.b.2.f for exports and reexports to designated terrorism-supporting countries, as set forth in 15 CFR parts 742 and 746 and as indicated in AT Column 1 of the Commerce Country Chart.

ECCN 3B002. According to BIS, ECCN 3B002 is amended by removing the term "stored program controlled'' from the heading. This term is removed because most equipment is computer controlled now and the term no longer adds any value to the control. ECCN 3B002 is further amended by removing and reserving 3B002.b, including the Note and Technical Note.

BIS states that the Wassenaar Arrangement agreed to the removal of 3B002.b because although enhancing production efficiencies, semiconductor test equipment in 3B002 is not considered to be a choke point technology or a key enabler for semiconductor production. This type of testing equipment lowers manufacturing costs and increases output but does not otherwise provide semiconductor producers with the ability to create particular chips or technically advanced devices. Restricting test equipment also does not prevent the production of semiconductors targeted for military use. In addition, the most advanced semiconductor devices can be produced without requiring full speed testing on automatic test equipment.

Moreover, test services have become readily available through international test outsourcing companies. Semiconductors can be developed and manufactured in one country and then tested in other countries with no restrictions.

ECCN 3B991. In this final rule, ECCN 3B991 is amended by adding the words "e.g., lithography'' to 3B991.b.2.f, to clarify that lithography equipment is controlled under that paragraph.

ECCN 3B992. BIS' final rule amends ECCN 3B992 by:

a) Organizing the notes after 3B992.b.4.b, and adding a note that 3B992.b.4.b does not control test equipment specially designed for testing memories; and

b) Adding a technical note to define "pattern rate.''

Commodities no longer controlled under ECCN 3B002 continue to be controlled for antiterrorism (AT) reasons under ECCN 3B992 for exports and reexports to designated terrorism-supporting countries, as set forth in 15 CFR parts 742 and 746 and as indicated in AT Column 1 of the Commerce Country Chart.

BIS Issues Federal Register Notice to Make Two Corrections to Final Rule

On July 26, 2005, BIS published a notice in the Federal Register which makes two corrections to this final rule as follows:

An inadvertent typographical error is corrected in the amendatory language for ECCN 3A002 (pages 41107-8), which controls general purpose electronic equipment. Specifically, a comma that appears between the terms "Frequency synthesizers" and "electronic assemblies" is removed.

A statement of the license requirements for deemed export license applications on page 41100 in the "Background" is corrected. This statement reads "Applications for foreign nationals with temporary or permanent residence status of a third country (i.e., non-U.S. and a temporary or permanent residence status other than a foreign national's country of origin) should be based on the foreign national's country of citizenship." BIS states that this is not correctly stated as such license applications should be based on the most recently established residency.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 07/19/05, 07/22/05, 07/25/05, and 07/26/05 news, 050701930, 05072215, 05072515, and 05072620, for Parts I - IV of BP's summary.)

BIS final rule (D/N 050607153-5153-01, FR Pub 07/15/05) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-13581.pdf.

BIS correction notice (D/N050607153-5153-01, FR Pub 07/26/05) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-14745.pdf