Routed Export Rule Still 'On Hold,' Census Official Says
The Commerce Department is still waiting to issue its long-awaited proposed rule on routed exports despite making progress on the effort in recent months, said Omari Wooden, assistant division chief for trade outreach and regulations at the Census Bureau.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Wooden, speaking during a Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting this week, noted that Census was working closely with the Bureau of Industry and Security on the rule toward the end of the Biden administration. But "it's been put on hold to try to get the new administration and the leadership just caught up to speed to decide if we can try to push it forward," Wooden said.
The rule, which is expected to propose changes to the process around assigning filing responsibilities to forwarders and to address information sharing among parties in routed export transactions, has faced years of delays under multiple administrations, partly because it hasn’t been viewed as a priority (see 2312150006 and 2006020049).
Commerce Department officials in March said they were close to issuing the rule, and it was "down in the clearance stage,” but they have since had to pause their work (see 2503210018).
"I so want to get the rule out. I really do," Wooden said. He added that the Census and BIS versions of the rule have to be released simultaneously, and the agencies need buy-in from senior leadership.
"I am hopeful," Wooden said, "but not very."