The State Department is finalizing an April proposed rule that will raise fees for registration with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, the agency’s first fee increase in 15 years (see 2404230033).
Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC)
The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) is the agency tasked with administering export controls over defense articles, defense services and brokering activities under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. It maintains the U.S. Munitions List (USML), which details the defense articles and services subject to the ITAR.
The State Department is expecting to see a large uptick by the end of the year in the number of authorized users under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations' new AUKUS exemption, a senior agency official said.
The U.S. wants to remove more export barriers faced by the commercial space industry even after announcing a set of space-related export control reforms in October, a senior official said this week, adding that the effort could continue under the incoming Trump administration.
A set of new rules released last week by the Commerce and State departments will reduce licensing requirements for exports of certain space-related items to a range of U.S. trading partners and propose to transfer export control jurisdiction over other space-related defense items from the State Department to the Commerce Department, lowering trade barriers faced by the commercial space industry for years.
The U.S. will soon reduce licensing requirements for exports of certain space-related items to a range of countries and may transfer export control jurisdiction over other space-related defense items from the State Department to the Commerce Department, according to four rules released by the agencies Oct. 17. The rulemakings are designed to “modernize” U.S. export controls on space technologies, a senior Commerce official told reporters, including by easing restrictions on exports of less sensitive space technologies, certain spacecraft-related items and more.
Oregon-based aerospace parts manufacturer Precision Castparts Corp. was fined $3 million after the State Department said its subsidiary illegally shared technical data with employees who were foreign nationals of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Bhutan, Peru and Burundi, violating U.S. defense export controls.
Christopher Stagg, an export control lawyer and former official with the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, started a new role as assistant editor at Bartlett's Annotated International Traffic in Arms Regulations, he announced on LinkedIn. The regularly updated publication is run by trade lawyer Jim Bartlett and includes ITAR-related footnotes, appendixes with statutes, court cases, consent agreements, government guidance and user aids.
Defense firm RTX Corp. will pay $200 million to settle alleged violations of U.S. defense export controls, the largest standalone export penalty ever issued by the State Department. RTX voluntarily disclosed the 750 violations, the agency said in a charging letter, most of which involved “historical” issues by an aerospace firm acquired by RTX in 2018.
The State Department fined U.S. defense firm RTX Corp. $200 million to settle alleged violations of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, one of the largest standalone export penalties ever issued by the agency. The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said the 750 violations, most of which involved the “historical systemic failures” of an aerospace systems company acquired by RTX, stemmed from export control classification issues, the illegal “hand-carry” of defense items to another country and violations of the terms of DDTC licenses. RTX voluntarily disclosed the violations, which included exports of prohibited items to Lebanon, Iran, Russia and China.
The State Department this week published a final version of a rule to expand its regulatory definition of activities that don’t need a license because they don’t qualify as exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports. The rule, effective Sept. 16, is largely consistent with the proposed version, though the agency made changes to narrow its scope and make sure certain temporary imports will still require a license.