Proposed Rules for Routed Export Transactions Postponed, Expected by Fall, BIS Official Says

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the Census Bureau plan to issue a proposed rule for routed export transactions during the summer or fall of 2019, said Sharron Cook, a senior export policy analyst with BIS, at BIS’s annual export controls conference on July 10. The long-awaited proposed rule is expected to update parties’ responsibilities under the Export Administration Regulations in a routed export transaction.

In April, Cook said the rule was expected to be published in late spring or early summer (see 1904170064). On July 10, Cook said there were several legal problems that postponed it, including a discrepancy between how a U.S. Principal Party in Interest is defined in the EAR and in the Foreign Trade Regulations. Cook said Commerce will try to “sync up” those definitions to solve the problem. “Hopefully this will unstick the regulations so we can finally get it out to you. We’ll see,” Cook said. “There may be other problems that we have to resolve with the lawyers, but this is one of the big ones.”