State Dept. Proposes Expanding Definition for Activities That Are Not Exports

The State Department is proposing to expand the definition of activities that are not exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports by adding two new entries, the agency said in a notice released Dec. 15. One new entry would be the “taking of defense articles outside a previously approved country by the armed forces of a foreign government” or U.N. personnel on a “deployment or training exercise,” the State Department said. The second entry would be a foreign defense item that enters the U.S. but is subsequently exported under a license, provided it has not been “modified, enhanced, upgraded, or otherwise altered or improved or had a U.S.-origin defense article integrated into it.”

The new proposal comes almost three years after the agency published a rule to revise the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to provide definitions for activities that are not exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports (see 1912230052). The State Department believes its proposed entries should also qualify under the definition and therefore shouldn't require an export license. “While previously not specified in the ITAR, the Department’s long-standing policy is that these two proposed activities are not controlled events,” the agency said.

The agency said the first new proposed entry would “ensure interoperability between and among” the U.S. and allied armed forces, and would give “assurances to partner countries that have requested a clearer statement of the long-standing Department policy articulated in this proposed rule.” The second proposal would “eliminate any misperception” that foreign items imported into the U.S. and that have since been exported “always will require Department authorization for subsequent transfers.” This new definition will “address concerns raised by partners and allies and avoid the need for unnecessary requests for authorization on the part of domestic and foreign defense companies.”

Public comments on the proposed changes are due Feb. 14. The State Department said it’s specifically seeking feedback from foreign government end-users “on the application of these provisions.”