Bureau of Industry and Security October 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) maintains controls on the export, reexport and transfer (in-country) of dual-use items and less sensitive military items pursuant to the Export Administration Regulations, including the Commerce Control List (CCL). Certain items that could be of potential concern for export control purposes are not yet listed on the CCL or controlled multilaterally, because they are emerging technologies. Among these items is Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology, which includes, inter alia, neural-controlled interfaces, mind-machine interfaces, direct neural interfaces, and brain-machine interfaces. BIS is seeking public comments on the potential uses of this technology, particularly with respect to its impact on U.S. national security (e.g., whether such technology could provide the United States, or any of its adversaries, with a qualitative military or intelligence advantage). This document also requests public comments on how to ensure that the scope of any controls that may be imposed on this technology would be effective (in terms of protecting U.S. national security interests) and appropriate (with respect to minimizing their potential impact on legitimate commercial or scientific applications).

This interim final rule outlines the progress the United States has made in export controls pertaining to cybersecurity items, revised Commerce Control List (CCL) implementation, and requests from the public information about the impact of these revised controls on U.S. industry and the cybersecurity community. Specifically, this rule establishes a new control on these items for National Security (NS) and Anti-terrorism (AT) reasons, along with a new License Exception Authorized Cybersecurity Exports (ACE) that authorizes exports of these items to most destinations except in the circumstances described. These items warrant controls because these tools could be used for surveillance, espionage, or other actions that disrupt, deny or degrade the network or devices on it.

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

The Department of Commerce is publishing this final rule in conjunction with a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) final rule to revise its regulations to remove the NRC's licensing authority for exports of deuterium for non-nuclear end use. The responsibility for the licensing of exports of deuterium for non-nuclear end use is being transferred to the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). BIS is publishing this final rule to include deuterium under its export licensing jurisdiction under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This Commerce final rule describes the changes made to the EAR to control the deuterium moved from the export control authority of the NRC to the export control authority of BIS under the EAR. Exports of deuterium for nuclear end use will remain under the NRC's export licensing jurisdiction.

In this rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by making targeted editorial corrections and clarifications. The errors addressed by this rule were inadvertent and these corrections will provide clarity and facilitate understanding of the regulations. This rule ensures that the language and policies already set forth in the EAR remain consistent throughout.