State Dept. Regulatory Agenda Includes New Mention of Emerging Tech Rule

The State Department published its spring 2021 regulatory agenda, including a new mention of an interim final rule that will seek industry feedback on new export controls for critical and emerging technologies (see 2105200061). The State Department said it will ask for comments on the “technology frontier” to help the agency identify “specific technology capabilities” that have evolved enough to warrant revisions to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The agency will use the comments to revise and exclude entries on the U.S. Munitions List and to “add entries for critical and emerging technologies.” The State Department plans to issue the rule in October.

Another new mention is an interim final rule that would amend the ITAR to clarify definitions for export and reexport. The rule will also propose to replace the term “national” with “person” in the Canadian exemption and revise the exemptions for “intra-company, intra-organization, and intra-governmental transfers to dual or third country nationals.” The rule would also correct administrative errors in the section on voluntary disclosures. The State Department hopes to issue the rule in July.

The State Department also newly mentioned a final rule that would propose amendments to the ITAR to expand the list of personal protective equipment covered by an exemption. The agency aims to issue the rule in July.

Another new mention of an interim final rule would amend the ITAR to further expand the definition of activities that are not exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports (see 1912230052). The rule would identify two “additional activities.” The agency hopes to issue the rule in August.

Agenda Highlights

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