The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry amended the Export Administration Regulations to revise six Export Control Classification Numbers following recent agreements on changes to the Missile Technology Control Regime. Those revisions, along with several conforming changes to the Commerce Control List, take effect on April 7 (here). The U.S. and 33 other countries are party to the MTCR, a non-binding accord that aims to limit the spread of weapons of mass destruction (here). U.S. companies now face a 30-day deadline to export or re-export items under license exceptions or without a license that are impacted by the ECCN revisions. Commerce made similar revisions in 2014 after striking agreement with MTCR parties on export control changes (see 14052324).

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security added two Export Control Classification Numbers to its authorization for exports to Samsung China Semiconductor (here). The company is currently a validated end-user, and the new ECCNs expand the products that Samsung China is able to import from the U.S.

The Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) presented a litany of recommendations related to export licensing, at the committee’s Feb. 11 meeting in San Francisco. Many of the recommendations were related to alignment of license requirements and enforcement across ports and agencies. Highlights of the recommendations from COAC are as follows:

The Commerce Department amended the Export Administration Regulations to further implement a U.S.-India agreement with provisions on export controls (here). Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security will remove license requirements for crime control products and other exports to India, said the final rule, which takes effect on Jan. 23. The bilateral agreement was brokered in 2010 (here). “This rule removes India from Crime Controls (CC) columns 1 and 3, and Regional Stability (RS) column 2 on the Commerce Country Chart in Supplement No. 1 to Part 738 of the EAR because the Government of India has now taken appropriate steps to ensure that the specific U.S.-origin items controlled for CC and RS reasons are not reexported from India without a license,” said Commerce. “A license requirement remains for items controlled under export control classification numbers (ECCNs) 6A003.b.4.b and 9A515.e for RS column 2 reasons when destined to India.”

The Commerce and State departments transfers of dual-use items from U.S. Munitions List (USML) Category XI (Military Electronics) to the Commerce Control List (CCL) took effect on Dec. 30. As part of the broad Export Control Reform, Obama administration officials are identifying and shifting controls to Commerce for a wide range of USML items.

The Commerce Department is revising the Export Administration Regulations to clarify that six Export Control Classification Numbers don’t control some parts, components, accessories and attachments because those items will be covered in Export Control Reform rules set to be implemented on Dec. 30 (here). Commerce and State published rules on July 1 to transfer some military electric controls from the U.S. Munitions List to the Commerce Control List (see 14070104). Those rules are effective on Dec. 30, and will put in place the controls on electronics that the six ECCNs currently cover, Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security said in this final rule. The newly-created “600 series” in the CCL will now cover the electronic goods. This final rule also removes controls on some monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers and discrete microwave transistors and related technology, saying those controls are obsolete. The final rule also makes changes to clarify the “specially designed” application for printed circuit boards, populated circuit card assemblies and multi-chip modules.

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security amended the Export Administration Regulations to remove temporary controls on biosensor systems and related “software” and “technology” under the Commerce Control List's 0Y521 Series. Items can only be placed in ECCN 0Y521 for controlled items not listed elsewhere on the Commerce Control List for one year before BIS has to either set permanent controls or end controls on the item (see 12041302). BIS took no action to permanently classify biosensor systems on the CCL, so they became EAR99 items in March 2014. This final rule is effective Aug. 4.

The Export Control Reform rule set to revise the U.S. Munitions List (USML) and place some dual use items in new “600 series” Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) on the Commerce Control List (CCL) on July 1 will require exporters to make several changes to Automated Export System filing, the Census Bureau said in a June 3 release. This final rule was published on Jan. 2 (see 14010302). The following Export Control Classification Numbers will be added to AES reference tables: 0A604, 0A614, 0B604, 0B614, 0D604, 0D614, 0E604, 0E614, 1A613, 1B608, 1B613, 1C608, 1D608, 1D613, 1E608, 1E613, 9A604, 9B604, 9D604, and 9E604.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to revise eight Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) related missile technology. The amendment will also add one new ECCN. The amendment reflects changes to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) Annex that were agreed to by MTCR member countries at the October 2013 Plenary in Rome, Italy, and at the 2013 Technical Experts Meeting in Bonn, Germany. This final rule amends the Commerce Control List to reflect the changes made at the MTCR Annex. The final rule also revises the definitions for “payload” and “repeatability.” The rule is effective on May 27.

The U.S. Census Bureau on April 22 released trouble-shooting techniques to resolve frequent Fatal Error notification issues in the Automated Export System (AES). Fatal Errors occur when a shipment is rejected.