The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added on Oct. 15 an edit in the Automated Export System (AES) to prevent exporters and freight forwarders from inadvertently reporting electronic export information (EEI) on items of Encryption Commodities, Software and Technology, the Census Bureau said on Oct. 24. The items in question fall under Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) 5A002, 5B002, 5D002 and 5E002 and the designation of “No License Required” (NLR) or AES license code C33. AES will expand the edit to include license code C32, effective Nov. 15, Census said.

The opportunity for exporters to take advantage of license exceptions has increased since the Oct. 15 implementation of the first set of item transfers from the U.S. Munitions List (USML) to the Commerce Control List (CCL), as part of the administration’s Export Control Reform, according to industry officials. Exporters face limited license exception possibilities under USML, in accordance with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

The much-anticipated Export Control Reform (ECR) transfer of U.S. Munitions List (USML) items to the Commerce Control List (CCL) officially took effect on Oct. 15, but exporters are unable to take advantage of the shift due to the on-going government shutdown. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) continues to deny action on license applications submitted through the BIS SNAP-R system.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security published it's final "CCL clean-up" rule Oct. 4. The final rule makes changes to the Commerce Control List that BIS says will make the CCL clearer, by revising the structure of the Commerce Control List, clarifying definitions, removing ECCNs subject to Nuclear Regulatory Commission jurisdiction, amending shipping tolerances, and conforming the CCL to multilateral export control lists and past amendments to the Export Administration Regulations. It also clarifies two BIS final rules associated with the first move of items from the U.S. Munitions List to the CCL. The final rule makes some changes from BIS' November 2012 proposal (see 12112702).

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is facing funding hurdles as the agency eyes the Oct. 15 implementation of the first set of U.S. Munitions List (USML)-Commerce Control List (CCL) transfers under the administration’s Export Control Reform (ECR) initiative, said Under Secretary of the Commerce Department’s BIS Eric Hirschhorn at a Sept. 18 meeting with the President’s Export Council Subcommittee on Export Administration (PECSEA). Hirschhorn said congressional failure to pass an appropriations bill or continuing resolution by the beginning of Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 on Oct. 1 will virtually shut down ECR licensing operations at BIS. Lawmakers are currently scrambling to provide the government funding for FY2014 (see 13091129). But should funding be provided, Hirschhorn also said the House is targeting significantly lower funding for BIS than the president requested. The House mark will hamper ECR outreach and awareness efforts, said Hirschhorn.

More than half of the existing U.S. Munitions List (USML) categories will have undergone some stage of revision following the forthcoming publication in the Federal Register of a proposed rule to revise the third set of USML categories, said Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Deputy Assistant Secretary of Export Administration Matt Borman during a BIS Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting Sept. 10. The USML categories IV (Launch Vehicles, Guided Missiles, Ballistic Missiles, Rockets, Torpedoes, Bombs and Mines), V (Explosives, Propellants, Incendiary Agents, and their Constituents), IX (Military Training Equipment), and X (Protective Personnel Equipment) will publish in a matter of weeks, Borman predicted.

The Bureau of Industry and Security banned a Chicago man from exporting for ten years, in connection with his unlicensed export of a thermal imaging camera he had allegedly stolen from his employer. Orville Parker also failed to file a shipper’s export declaration (SED) or Automated Export System (AES) record, despite knowing it was necessary for the export valued over $2,500.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a final rule amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to harmonize U.S. government policy with Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) agreements. The MTCR is an association of 34 countries that seeks to stem proliferation of systems equipped to deliver weapons of mass destruction. MTCR agreements coordinate export policy and items control lists. The rule makes technical revisions to six Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs).

Satellite companies and manufacturers supported the Obama Administration's draft proposals to update the satellite export control regime in comments to the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). The proposals address the transfer of satellite systems and their components from the U.S. munitions list (USML) to the Commerce Control List (CCL). Items controlled under the USML are critical to national security, while the CCL is less restrictive and includes items that are less critical. Comments were due and posted this week (see 13071122). SES, Intelsat, Boeing and other companies approved of the proposals but asked for clarifications to export control classification numbers (ECCN) that identify items.

The Commerce and State Departments finalized on July 8 the second set of concurrent rules that transfer equipment to the Commerce Control List from the United States Munitions List (USML), as part of President Obama’s Export Control Reform (ECR) initiative. The final rules transfer military vehicles, vessels of war, auxiliary and miscellaneous items, and submersible vessels and oceanographic equipment, that the Obama administration said no longer require strict USML controls. Set to take effect in 180 days on Jan. 6, 2014, the rules revise USML Categories VII, VI, XX and XIII and create new CCL “600 series” Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCN) for the transferred items.