The Bureau of Industry and Security is postponing the effective date to March 22 of the transfer of software used in the development and production of certain oscilloscopes and transient recorders from its current "EAR99" designation to classification on the Commerce Control List (CCL), BIS said (here). On March 22, software “specially designed” for the “development,” “production” or “use” of items controlled under Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 3A292 will shift from its current "EAR99" designation to ECCN 3D991 for BIS licensing and classification purposes, the agency said. The delay was directed by a memorandum issued by the Trump administration on Jan. 20 (see 1701230031). The remainder of the final rule (see 1611230023), which amended the Export Administration Regulations to remove licensing requirements for nonproliferation ("NP") reasons to export, re-export or transfer in-country certain pressure tubes, pipes, fittings, pipe valves, machine tools, oscilloscopes and transient recorders to ship to Iraq, Israel, Libya and Pakistan, took effect on Nov. 25.

The Bureau of Industry and Security and State Department are seeking public comments (here) on potential impacts of changing certain controls implemented through an Oct. 12 final rule that transferred certain fire control, laser, imaging and guidance equipment from U.S. Munitions List (USML) Category XII to the Commerce Control List (CCL) (see 1610110022) on Dec. 31.

The Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department are issuing concurrent final rules to finalize the transfer of items from U.S. Munitions List (USML) Category XV (spacecraft systems and associated equipment) to the Commerce Control List (CCL) that no longer warrant USML control. BIS’s (here) and State’s (here) final rules build upon comments received after respective interim final rules were published on May 13, 2014 (see 14051224), and will take effect Jan. 15, they said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing a final rule, effective Dec. 27, to amend the Export Administration Regulations to reflect understandings reached at the June 2015 Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) Plenary meeting and certain understandings reached at this year’s plenary, BIS said (here). Amendments based on last year’s meeting address nuclear nonproliferation (NP) controls applying to certain centrifugal multiplane balancing machines under Commerce Control List (CCL) Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 2B229. Amendments based on the 2016 meeting address NP controls applying to certain linear displacement measuring systems listed under ECCN 2B206, and make changes to this description to conform with the NSG Annex, BIS said. Furthermore, the rule corrects an error in the technical parameters of ECCN 6A203.d, which describes certain radiation-hardened TV cameras (including lenses) subject to NP controls, BIS said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing a final rule that will amend the Commerce Control List (CCL) to reflect the February 2016 intersessional recommendations adopted by the Australia Group (AG) and the understandings reached at the June 2016 AG Plenary meeting, BIS said (here). The following changes are based on the intersessional recommendations:

Exports, re-exports or in-country transfers of certain pressure tubes, pipes, fittings, pipe valves, machine tools, oscilloscopes and transient recorders will no longer require a license for nonproliferation (“NP”) reasons to ship to Iraq, Israel, Libya and Pakistan, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a planned final rule (here). But other licensing requirements will remain in place. Specifically, pressure tubes, pipes, fittings and pipe valves controlled under Commerce Control List Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 2A292; pumps controlled under ECCN 2A293; numerically controlled machine tools controlled under ECCN 2B290; and oscilloscopes and transient recorders controlled under ECCN 3A292 will no longer require a license for “NP” reasons to ship to those countries, indicated under “NP Column 2” on the Commerce Country Chart. BIS is issuing the final rule to better align U.S. nonproliferation controls with nuclear nonproliferation requirements of other Nuclear Suppliers Group countries, none of which require a nonproliferation-related license for those items, BIS said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department are issuing parallel final rules to clarify the types of military aircraft controlled on the Commerce Control List (CCL) and to delineate the goods warranting control on the U.S. Munitions List (USML), respectively, BIS (here) and State (here) said. More specifically, BIS’s rule elucidates and expands the list of items that are subject only to the anti-terrorism reason for control, and State’s revises USML Categories VIII (Aircraft and Related Articles) and XIX (Gas Turbine Engines and Associated Equipment). The final rules come after corresponding Feb. 9 proposed rules, and will take effect Dec. 31.

Recent developments in ACE for exports include elimination of one of two “No License Required” codes in the Automated Export System (AES) and the State Department’s work to integrate all paper license values into ACE for decrementation, officials said Oct. 31 during the Bureau of Industry and Security Conference on Export Controls and Policy.

The Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department announced final rules (here and here) that will transfer certain fire control, laser, imaging and guidance equipment from U.S. Munitions List (USML) Category XII to the Commerce Control List. The final rules also shift certain items from USML categories VIII (aircraft), XIII (materials and miscellaneous articles) and XV (spacecraft) to USML Category XII. BIS and State issued the regulations after considering comments on proposed rules issued in May 2015 (see 1505040021) and February 2016 (see 1602180022). The Obama administration switched fewer lower-level military parts and components from Category XII to the CCL than for other USML categories, simply because remaining items in that category still warrant International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) control, State said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a final rule Sept. 20 aligning the Commerce Control List (CCL) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR) with changes made to the Wassenaar Arrangement’s List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies during the December 2015 Wassenaar Plenary Meeting (here). Goods in CCL Category 1 (special materials and related equipment, chemicals, “microorganisms” and “toxins”) sustained 12 revisions, more than any other category, altogether composing 58 total changes, while Category 5-Part 1 (“Telecommunications”) added Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) 5A003 (“Systems,” “equipment,” and “components,” for non-cryptographic “information security”), and 5A004 (“Systems,” “equipment,” and “components” for defeating, weakening, or bypassing “information security”).