DDTC to Add, Remove Items From USML; Previews Transfers to CCL
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is revising its trade regulations to add and remove items from the U.S. Munitions List and to clarify the control scope of others. The changes, outlined in an interim final rule released Jan. 16 and effective Sept. 15, include new defense articles that DDTC said should be subject to export controls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and delete others “that no longer warrant inclusion” or that will soon become subject to the Commerce Department’s licensing jurisdiction.
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Some of the newly controlled articles include certain exoskeletons under USML Category X; new nerve agents and a defoliant under USML Category XIV; certain Pentagon-funded aircraft engines and their specially designed parts under USML Category XIX; two new classes of uncrewed, untethered vessels and vehicles under USML Category XX; and more.
Among the items being removed from the USML are certain anti-jam antennas under Category XI, after DDTC said they “no longer provide a critical military advantage” and increasingly have commercial uses, including in GPS systems. The agency is specifically revising the control’s “beam switching speed criterion” from 50 milliseconds down to one millisecond and the “convergence time criterion” from one second down to one millisecond, which will help DDTC “control only the most sensitive and effective anti-jam antennas.”
DDTC also said it plans to remove controls from certain “Controlled Reception Pattern Antennas (CRPAs) for Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT).” This change will help “facilitate civil global navigation system resiliency,” the agency said.
The antennas removed under these changes are “neither subject to multilateral controls nor controlled as munitions in other countries that produce them,” the rule said. It added that the anti-jam antennas will become subject to Commerce’s Export Administration Regulations.
The rule also will clarify the scope of other export controls, including the universe of restricted “ground vehicles” under Category VII, certain “commodities” under Category VIII, and more.
Other changes affect a recent modification to the USML that allowed U.S. manufacturers to apply for export licenses to participate in development of the KF-21 aircraft “without removing those defense articles from the USML simply because they are used in the KF-21” (see 2411250007 and 2312010010).
DDTC has in the past published similar USML changes with 180-day or shorter delayed effective dates, but it said it intentionally wanted a lengthier 240-day delayed effective date for this rule. It also said it plans to issue guidance on its website to address “specific licensing scenarios” for the changes made by this rule.
It also noted that any items removed from certain USML categories by this rule may still be captured by other USML “paragraphs” or become subject to Commerce's export licensing authority under the EAR. “Exporters should evaluate the control status of their item using the orders of review in the ITAR and the EAR and may submit a commodity jurisdiction request” to DDTC or a commodity classification request to the Bureau of Industry and Security “if there is no doubt it is subject to the EAR,” the agency said.
For items moving from the USML to the Commerce Control List, exporters and other companies can “pre-position license applications early” to get a head start if they’re looking to export those items “as soon as possible,” DDTC said. It said “applicants may submit license applications immediately after the publication of the [Bureau of Industry and Security] final rule adding such items to the CCL.” If BIS finishes processing an application before the effective date of its upcoming final rule, the agency will “hold the application without action (HWA)” until the effective date.
“During the transition period, license applications will be accepted by both DDTC and BIS for items moving from the USML to the CCL,” the rule said. “BIS will not issue approved licenses for such items until on or after the effective date of this rule.”
The rule also clarifies how the changes will impact reexports and retransfers, technical assistance agreements, manufacturing license agreements, distribution agreements, reporting requirements and more.
Existing holders of DDTC licenses, agreements or other approvals may maintain those existing authorizations or obtain new authorizations for items moving from the USML to the CCL, the agency said. Questions about those agreements and approvals should be directed to DDTC.
Public comments are due March 18. DDTC said it’s looking for feedback on whether it should issue a definition for “Controlled Reception Pattern Antennas,” whether it should continue to change its export control language and scope for certain engines, whether any of the changes made by the rule could “be more concisely stated,” and more. It’s also asking for comments about other articles or services that should or shouldn’t be controlled by the USML.