Though the Commerce Department’s Export Administration Regulations (EAR) are less strict than the State Department’s U.S. Munitions List (USML) regarding export controls, an aerospace and defense consultant said the complexity of the EAR is posing a challenge for those adjusting to changing export control regulations.
Jill Hurley, a practice leader for aerospace and defense with the Livingston International consulting group, said the EAR is like a complicated puzzle and that changing export control regulations are forcing her clients to consider questions like: Is this (item) classified properly, what are the rules and record keeping requirements and is it on the country chart?
“Even though (USML is) higher scrutiny (and a) stricter set of regulations, it’s actually easier to navigate than the EAR,” Hurley told Defense Daily
recently. “While it’s not as strict, I’d say the EAR is inherently more complicated to navigate.”
The goal of export controls is to keep national security-sensitive items like missile or satellite technology from falling into the hands of enemy states. But over time, industry said it was hamstrung because items on sensitive materials, like nuts or bolts on a satellite, couldn’t be sold overseas without going through a complex process known as International Traffic in Arms Reduction (ITAR), which prompted international companies to start marketing parts as “ITAR-free” to boost sales.
Hurley said the biggest issue is learning the new rules of the EAR, which contains the Commerce Control List (CCL). Hurley said though many items are moving off the USML, they still contain “almost ITAR-like” controls.
“For some, (the challenge) is learning the new regulations,” Hurley said. “For the rest that were familiar with the EAR, it’s understanding how the EAR has changed as it applies to their products and what solutions might be available to them in order to get a license exception, things of that nature.”
The State and Commerce departments July 1 issued regulations streamlining export controls on certain military electronics by shifting less sensitive equipment, parts and components from the USML to the CCL. These changes go into effect Dec. 30, according to a State Department statement.
With the changes to military electronics, 15 of 21 USML categories have been successfully revised under the Export Control Reform Initiative. Work continues on remaining categories. Final rules relating to radiation-hardened microelectric microcircuits went into effect June 27. Other portions of satellite-related rules will take effect Nov. 10, according to the federal government’s export.gov compliance Website.
A State Department official said July 7 categories 4-10, 13, 15(d), 16, 17, and 19-21 have been published as final rules in the Federal Register and are now in effect. This means categories 1, 2, 3, 12, 14 and 18 have yet to be tackled. These categories cover items like firearms, artillery projectors, ammunition, fire control, range finder, optical and guidance and control equipment as well as toxicological agents and equipment and radiological equipment. The State Department official declined to say which rules were currently undergoing interagency review.
An official from President Barack Obama’s administration said earlier this year that rule changes regarding chemicals were in the queue for publication this year. She also said the administration wants all remaining proposed and final rules published this year as well as terminology defined for specific categories that would be subject to control. Terms such as public domain, publicly available, technical, technology and fundamental research would need to be defined so the administration can determine what is in the scope of its controls, she said.