BIS Hoping to Publish New Standards-Setting Activities Rule This Summer

The Bureau of Industry and Security is hoping to publish a rule this summer that would again update or clarify how export controls apply to releases of technology for standards setting or development in standards organizations, said Hillary Hess, director of the BIS regulatory policy division.

Hess, speaking during a June 18 Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting, said the rule is being analyzed by other agencies, which submitted feedback to BIS after the agency submitted it to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review in May (see 2405200016). “It hasn't been there a terribly long time,” Hess said, “but I am hopeful that it will be published this summer.”

If it’s published, the new interim final rule would be the latest BIS rulemaking related to standards bodies since the agency expanded an authorization in 2022 for the release of controlled technology for certain standards-setting activities, including when companies on the Entity List are participating in those bodies (see 2209080038). Hess said this upcoming rule will “remove further obstacles to participation” in standards bodies.

Before BIS began making the change in 2022, industry groups warned that BIS controls risked ceding American influence and leadership to foreign competitors, including China, in international technology standards development (see 2202100039).

Hess said those public comments have helped BIS “mitigate some of the chilling effect” faced by American companies at standards bodies. The agency also published an advisory opinion in May 2023 to provide guidance on whether certain information shared with the International Civil Aviation Organization during aircraft standards development activities would be subject to the Export Administration Regulations (see 2305300035).

“This is our next run at it. It would be lovely if this were really it, and we put a bow on it,” she said. “But in case it's not, it is an interim final rule, and we will be accepting comments on it.”