Completed BIS, Census Rules Awaiting Publication in Federal Register, Commerce Officials Say

The Bureau of Industry and Security and the Census Bureau recently completed rules related to export controls and Electronic Export Information filing requirements, but they have not yet been published due to delays at the Federal Register office, officials said. A final rule from BIS will implement export control decisions stemming from the 2019 Wassenaar Arrangement plenary, including new restrictions on emerging technologies (see 2008100013). An advance notice of proposed rulemaking from Census will seek comments on removing certain EEI filing requirements for shipments to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (see 2008110017 and 2006030043).

Census expects its ANPRM to be published within the next two weeks, Shannon Barley, a Census official, said during a Sept. 15 Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting. Hillary Hess, BIS’s regulatory policy director, said the agency is unsure when its rule will be published. “It’s at the Federal Register,” Hess said during the meeting. “It’s been there for a while, so we’re hoping it will be soon.”

In a message to RPTAC members, Sharron Cook, a BIS senior export policy analyst, said the Federal Register is about one month “behind on reviewing rules.” She said the more it falls behind, the more its backlog will increase. “We have also heard that [the Office of the Federal Register] is definitely behind in rules,” Barley added. The OFR did not comment.

Commerce previously experienced issues publishing notices due to Federal Register delays. Earlier this year, BIS was not able to officially designate 33 entities for weapons proliferation and human rights abuses until June 5 despite announcing the changes in a May press release (see 2006020048 and 2006030032).

Census’ ANPRM on removing EEI filing requirements will feature a 60-day comment period, Barley said. While the agency is open to any feedback, she said Census is specifically searching for alternative methods to collect the data it receives from the mandatory filings in the Automated Export System. “You'll see that’s a lot of what the questions [in the ANPRM] are geared toward,” Barley said. “We hope it will be published this week or next week.”

Hess also said BIS has not yet decided whether it will restrict the number of countries eligible under license exception Additional Permissive Reexports (APR) (see 2004270025). The potential move, outlined in an April proposed rule, would remove license eligibility for more than 20 countries, including China, by restricting their ability to receive certain U.S. reexports that are controlled for national security reasons. The comment period for the rule ended June 29. “We're still considering it,” Hess said.