DDTC May Consider OGLs for Exports, Official Says

The State Department last year limited its new open general license pilot program to defense reexports and retransfers because of a database issue with CBP, and may eventually look to expand the authorization to include regular exports, said Dilan Wickrema, an official with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. “Frankly, the reason why we haven't been able to include exports into an OGL yet is because we would have to amend CBPs database to allow and accept some kind of code indicating that an OGL was used,” Wickrema said.

Wickrema, speaking during a Jan. 24 virtual export control seminar for Canada and the U.K. hosted by the State, Commerce and Defense departments (see 2301110022), suggested the agency could eventually create an OGL for exports. “Maybe possibly something for future consideration,” he said.

DDTC in July published the OGL pilot program, which authorizes reexports and retransfers of certain defense items and services to Australia, Canada and the U.K. (see 2207190008). The agency released guidance less than a month later to clarify how the licenses can be used (see 2208020030), including to stress that the authorizations don’t cover exports from the U.S. -- only retransfers and reexports.

Wickrema also said DDTC plans to soon update the two existing OGLs to match the current International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which are undergoing a reorganization process (see 2301130017 and 2203220013). “Some of the citations in the OGLs you'll find are different from what they actually are in the regulations,” Wickrema said. “We are going to be publishing an update of the OGLs that has the new citations.” He also said DDTC is still studying whether it will extend the one-year pilot program, which is set to expire July 31.