The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will hold its semi-annual in-house seminar as a “virtual event” on July 1 due to restrictions implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19, the agency said in a June 4 notice. Attendees can register by emailing DDTCInHouseSeminars@state.gov before June 24.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will hold another Defense Export Control and Compliance System webinar on June 10, DDTC said in a notice this week. The webinar will cover updates to DECCS that took effect since the last webinar (see 2004080022), the State Department’s response to COVID-19, frequently asked questions, best practices and a question-and-answer session. The webinar will take place 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT; login information is provided in the notice.
The Directorate of Defense Controls’ Defense Export Control and Compliance System (see 2002190025) will be unavailable from 11 p.m. EDT on May 29 through 8 a.m. EDT on June 1 for system maintenance, DDTC said in a May 28 notice. Users should save work in progress before the scheduled downtime, DDTC said.
Wassenaar Arrangement members have begun virtual negotiations on export controls, in observance of mitigation measures recommended during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Heidi Grant, the director of the Defense Department’s Defense Technology Security Administration. The virtual negotiations, which Grant believes have never been done before, started after the pandemic forced the group to cancel in-person meetings for the 2020 cycle, including an April Experts Group meeting (see 2004290044). Grant said the group has submitted 90 export control proposals for negotiations this year, although it remains unclear whether members will be able to vote remotely.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has completed an interagency review of an interim final rule that will consolidate certain definitions within the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The review was completed May 20.
Export licenses are not required to ship defense products to Puerto Rico, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said in a frequently-asked-question released May 19. The DDTC also stressed that licenses are not needed for defense exports to American Samoa, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. “No export occurs when a defense article is shipped to Puerto Rico,” DDTC said. “Therefore, no export license or other approval from DDTC is required.”
The Treasury Department issued a proposed rule to modify mandatory declaration requirements for certain transactions involving critical technologies. Under the rule, transactions would require a declaration if the critical technology would normally be subject to a U.S. export license. This would be a change from certain declaration requirements for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. outlined under a 2018 pilot program, which based those decisions on whether the transactions met criteria established by the North American Industry Classification System.
CBP has removed a State Department license exemption from the Automated Export System that has been revised by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, according to a May 19 CSMS message. The exemption, which was revised last year (see 2005120027), was removed from the AES Trade Interface Requirements appendix for International Traffic in Arms Regulations exemption codes after an April 19, 2020, end date for the exemption, CBP said. The exemption is no longer accepted in Electronic Export Information submissions. Exporters that need to update previously accepted shipments should refer to the exemptions section of the DDTC’s frequently asked questions site or contact the DDTC response team, CBP said.
The State Department rescinded a policy of denial for a subsidiary of BAE Systems located in Saudi Arabia, according to a notice. The policy no longer applies to BAE Systems Saudi Arabia Limited (BAES SAL), which was one of several BAES subsidiaries convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations in 2010. The State Department rescinded the denial policy after receiving a request from BAES SAL and determining the action was “in the national security and foreign policy interests” of the U.S.
The State Department issued statutory debarment for 23 people for violations of the Arms Export Control Act, the agency said in a notice. The State Department stressed that they are blocked from participating in activities regulated by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, including brokering activities, exports and temporary imports. The debarment period will last for three years, at which time the people can apply for reinstatement of export privileges, the agency said. If their export privileges are not reinstated, they remain debarred.