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

In this final rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to revise and clarify U.S. licensing requirements and licensing policy on exports and reexports of items to the People's Republic of China (PRC). BIS published a revised policy and related amendments in proposed form in the Federal Register with a request for comments. This final rule establishes a control, based on knowledge of a ``military end-use,'' on exports and reexports to the PRC of certain items on the Commerce Control List (CCL) that otherwise do not require a license to the PRC. It also includes a revision to the license application review policy for items destined for the PRC that are controlled on the CCL for reasons of national security, and revises the license review policy for items controlled for reasons of chemical and biological weapons proliferation, nuclear nonproliferation, and missile technology for export to the PRC, requiring that applications involving such items be reviewed in conjunction with the revised national security licensing policy. This rule also creates a new authorization for ``validated end-users'' to which specified items may be exported or reexported without a license. Validated end-users will be placed on a list in the EAR after review and approval by the United States Government. The process for such review is also set forth in this final rule. This rule also revises the circumstances in which End-User Statements, issued by the PRC Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), must be obtained, requiring them for transactions that both require a license to the PRC for any reason and (for most exports) exceed a total value of $50,000. This final rule also includes other minor corrections and conforming amendments.

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, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

The Bureau of Industry and Security is revising the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by amending a general order published in the Federal Register on June 5, 2006 and later amended on September 6, 2006 to add nine additional persons. The general order imposed a license requirement for exports and reexports of all items subject to the EAR where the transaction involved Mayrow General Trading (``Mayrow'') or entities related, as specified in that general order. The order also prohibited the use of License Exceptions for exports or reexports of any items subject to the EAR involving such entities. This rule will expand the general order and add sixteen additional persons to it. Pursuant to the expansion, the general order will cover: (i) Persons regarding whom the U.S. Government possesses information of affiliation or relationship to Mayrow; and (ii) other persons regarding whom the U.S. Government possesses information concerning the acquisition or attempted acquisition of commodities capable of being used to construct IEDs, as well as persons who are related to or affiliated with such persons. The order will apply to persons specifically listed who fit within either of these two groups. To reflect this expansion, this rule will update the heading of the general order to use the term ``persons''. In total, pursuant to this expansion, this rule will add the following sixteen persons to the general order, listed in alphabetical order: Al-Faris; Ali Akbar Yahya; Amir Mohammad Zahedi; EKT Electronics; Encyclopedia Electronics Center; Frank Lam; GBNTT; Majid Seif; Mohammed Katranji; Neda Industrial Group; Nedayeh Micron Electronics; Sayed-Ali Hosseini; Speedy Electronics Ltd.; United Sources Industrial Enterprises; Vast Solution Sdn Bhd.; and Y-Sing Components Limited.

The Entity List (Supplement No. 4 to part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations) provides notice to the public that certain exports and reexports to parties identified on the Entity List require a license from the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and that availability of License Exceptions in such transactions is limited. This proposed rule would expand the scope of reasons for which BIS may add parties to the Entity List. This proposed rule would also amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to state explicitly that a party listed on the Entity List has a right to request that its listing be removed or modified and would set procedures for addressing such requests.