State Dept. Regulatory Agenda Includes New Mentions of ITAR Changes

The State Department published its spring 2020 regulatory agenda. The agenda includes a new mention of a final rule to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations due to changes made by multilateral export regimes. The rule would update the U.S. Munitions List and “corresponding parts of the ITAR” based on “related treaties” and export regimes, such as the Wassenaar Arrangement, that have updated their export controls. The agency is aiming to issue the rule this month.

The agenda also includes a new mention of a final rule to implement a United Nations Security Council resolution related to ITAR controls for the Central African Republic. The agency had said it planned to issue the rule in June.

The agency again mentioned a notice of proposed rulemaking to consolidate and clarify exemptions in the ITAR. The notice would reorganize part 125 of the ITAR to improve “their clarity and ease of use” and reorganize parts 123 and 124 “to consolidate regulatory provisions” related to export licenses for defense items and services. The State Department sought comments on the changes last year (see 1907250013) and expects to issue another notice in December.

The State Department also continued to mention a final rule to revise and remove items in the USML and to add controls for critical and emerging technologies. The rule will revise language in the USML based on the agency’s interaction with industry, including advisory opinions, public comments and commodity jurisdiction determinations. The State Department plans to issue the rule in December.

The agency again mentioned a rule that will revise the ITAR to provide definitions for activities that are not exports, reexports or retransfers. The activities include launching items into space, providing technical data to U.S. people within the U.S. and moving defense items among U.S. states and territories. The rule will also remove ITAR licensing requirements for the “electronic transmission and storage of unclassified technical data” when the data is sufficiently encrypted. The State Department published an interim final rule in December and issued a guidance earlier this year (see 2002210019). The agency said it plans to issue the final rule this month.

Agenda Highlights

Highlights of State's trade-related rulemakings that are at the proposed, final or completed stages are below. New items are marked with an asterisk (*).