Industry and Security Bureau 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule updates the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) legal authority citations for the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to: Replace citations to the President's Notice of October 27, 2006 Continuation of Emergency Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction with the President's Notice of November 8, 2007 on the same subject, replace public law citations with United States Code citations, and remove outdated citations and to add one previously omitted citation. BIS is making these changes to keep the CFR legal authority citations for the EAR current and to comply with the Office of the Federal Register policy of using United States Code citations for statutory provisions that have been encoded into the United States Code. This rule makes no changes to the text of the EAR.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is seeking public comments on the impact that implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, through the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act and the Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations, has had on commercial activities involving ``Schedule 1'' chemicals during calendar year 2007. The purpose of this notice of inquiry is to collect information to assist BIS in its preparation of the annual certification to the Congress, which is required under Condition 9 of Senate Resolution 75, April 24, 1997, in which the Senate gave its advice and consent to the ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

This final rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement the transfer of licensing jurisdiction for QRS11-00100-100/101 and the QRS11-00050-443/ 569 Micromachined Angular Rate Sensors from the Department of State to the Department of Commerce (see Public Notice 5823, published in 72 FR 31452-31453, June 7, 2007) when the QRS11-00100-100/101 is integrated into a primary instrument system for use on civil aircraft or is exported solely for integration into such a system, or when the QRS11- 00050-443/569 is integrated into an automatic flight control system of the type described in ECCN 7A994 or aircraft of the type described in ECCN 9A991 that incorporates such systems, or are exported solely for integration into such a system.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to list names of end-users in the People's Republic of China (PRC) approved to receive exports, reexports and transfers of certain items under Authorization Validated End-User (VEU). The rule identified five specific validated end-users. This final rule amends the EAR to correct an inadvertent omission in the list of items approved for one of those validated end-users.

In response to the Government of Burma's continued repression of the democratic opposition in Burma, and consistent with Executive Order 13310 of July 28, 2003 and Executive Order 13448 of October 18, 2007, this final rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to move Burma into more restrictive country groupings and impose a license requirement for exports, reexports or transfers of most items subject to the EAR to persons listed in or designated pursuant to Executive Orders 13310 and 13448.

This proposed rule would require that export and reexport license applications, classification requests, encryption review requests, License Exception AGR notifications and related documents be submitted to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) via its Simplified Network Application Process (SNAP-R) system. This requirement would not apply to applications for Special Comprehensive Licenses or in certain situations in which BIS would authorize paper submissions.

In this final rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to add India as an eligible destination for exports, reexports and transfers under Authorization Validated End-User (VEU). BIS established Authorization VEU in a final rule published in the Federal Register.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is publishing this final rule to amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement the understandings reached at the June 2007 plenary meeting of the Australia Group (AG). This final rule amends the EAR to reflect changes to the AG ``Control List of Biological Agents'' that the countries participating in the AG adopted at the plenary meeting. Specifically, this rule revises the Commerce Control List (CCL) entry that controls animal pathogens on the AG ``Control List of Biological Agents'' by revising the listing for mycoplasma mycoides to include only the specific subspecies and strains of mycoplasma mycoides that are of most concern as the causative agents of disease in animals, i.e., Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies mycoides SC (small colony) and Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae (``strain F38''). In addition, this rule makes conforming changes to the CCL entry that controls certain select agents not included on any of the AG Common Control Lists. This rule also amends the EAR to reflect the admission of Croatia to the Australia Group and updates the definition of ``Australia Group'' in the EAR by adding Croatia to the list of participating countries. In addition to the AG plenary meeting changes described above, this rule amends the EAR by revising the CCL entry that controls certain equipment capable of being used in handling biological materials. This rule revises a Technical Note in the CCL entry by updating the edition of the World Health Organization (WHO) ``Laboratory Biosafety Manual'' referenced therein to to identify the current edition of the manual. This WHO manual contains safety requirements for P3 or P4 (BL3, BL4, L3, L4) complete containment facilities. Finally, this rule amends the list of countries that currently are States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) by adding ``Barbados,'' which recently became a State Party. As a result of this change, the CW (Chemical Weapons) license requirements and policies in the EAR that apply to Barbados now conform with those applicable to other CWC States Parties. This rule also clarifies the scope of the entry for ``China'' on the list of CWC States Parties by revising the footnote to this entry to indicate that, for CWC purposes only, China includes ``Macau,'' as well as ``Hong Kong.''

This rule updates the Code of Federal Regulations legal authority citations for the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to include the citation to the President's Notice of August 15, 2007 Continuation of Emergency Regarding Export Control Regulations.

This rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by making the following changes: Correcting citations in several sections of the EAR, removing an endnote to the Entity List, reinserting the grace period provision for support documents, clarifying when an Automated Export System or Shipper's Export Declaration record must be filed, adding omitted information to certain Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs), removing references to the International Munitions List, and removing or editing references to ECCNs that have either changed or do not exist.