BIS Adds Chemical Controls to CWC

The Bureau of Industry and Security amended the Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations and Export Administration Regulations to control new chemicals used in chemical weapons. The final rule, effective Jan. 7, aligns U.S. export controls with recent changes made by the multilateral Chemical Weapons Convention.

The rule adds controls to three Schedule 1 chemical families and one individual Schedule 1 chemical to align U.S. restrictions with decisions adopted by the CWC’s 2019 Conference of the States Parties. The chemicals include P-alkyl, O-alkyl, “Methyl-(bis(diethylamino)methylene)phosphonamidofluoridate” and carbamates and quaternaries of dimethylcarbamoyloxypyridines. BIS requested industry feedback in 2019 on the potential commercial impact of the controls (see 1908130022) but said it received no comments, adding that it expects industry impact to be minimal. “BIS estimates that the amendments made by this rule will not significantly affect the public burden imposed by these requirements because very few (if any) commercial facilities in the United States produce these chemicals,” the agency said.

The rule also amended the definition of “production” in the CWCR to clarify its “application” to CWCR declaration requirements. BIS said the definition of production -- for purposes of declaration requirements for Schedule 1, 2 and 3 chemicals -- “is understood” to “include intermediates, by-products, or waste products that are produced and consumed within a defined chemical manufacturing sequence.” The definition also says those intermediaries, by-products or waste products “are chemically stable and therefore exist for a sufficient time to make isolation from the manufacturing stream possible, but where, under normal or design operating conditions, isolation does not occur.”