The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued an interim final rule, effective October 3, 2008, which amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to make the treatment of encryption items (EIs) more consistent with the treatment of other items subject to the EAR, as well as to simplify and clarify regulations pertaining to the export of EIs.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a proposed rule to establish a new License Exception "Intra-Company Transfer" (ICT) to allow an approved parent company and its approved wholly-owned or controlled in fact entities to export, reexport, or transfer (in-country) many items on the Commerce Control List (CCL) among themselves for internal company use without individual export licenses.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a final rule, effective September 5, 2008, which amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to clarify that crew protection kits used as protective cabs on construction equipment are correctly classified on the Commerce Control List (CCL) in the entry that applies to construction equipment built to military specifications.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a notice and press release announcing the initiation of a foreign availability assessment of uncooled thermal imaging cameras incorporating microbolometer focal plane arrays in China in response to petition received from the Sensors and Instrumentation Technical Advisory Committee (SITAC).

The Census Bureau has posted to its Web site the July 2008 issue of its AES Newsletter.

The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a final rule, effective July 8, 2008, which amends the Export Administration Regulations to, among other things, implement the understandings reached at the April 2008 plenary meeting of the Australia Group (AG)¹.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a final rule, effective June 16, 2008, amending the Export Administration Regulations and the Commerce Control List to reflect changes to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) Annex that were agreed to by MTCR member countries at the November 2007 Plenary in Greece.

At the April 2008 National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's Annual Conference, U.S. government officials discussed the Automated Export System (AES) and other export related issues.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a summary of recent changes to the Automated Export System Trade Interface Requirements (AESTIR) to its Web site.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a Truck Manifest CSMS message announcing that the Automated Commercial Environment is currently experiencing a nationwide problem with Truck Manifest 355 Messages and CUSRES for Truck Manifest.