Industry and Security Bureau – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by removing a person from the Entity List (Supplement No. 4 to Part 744). This person is being removed from the Entity List because the End-User Review Committee (ERC) decided to approve this person's request for removal from the Entity List. This rule also makes a clarification for two persons that were listed on the Entity List prior to this rule being published to revise the addresses provided for these listed persons. This rule updates the address information for these two persons by replacing incorrect information. The Entity List 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.

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.

In response to the Government of Burma's continued repression of the democratic opposition in Burma, and consistent with Executive Order 13047 of May 20, 1997, Executive Order 13310 of July 28, 2003, Executive Order 13448 of October 18, 2007, and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (Title IX of Pub. L. 106-387), the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) previously amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) on October 24, 2007 to impose a license requirement for most exports, reexports, or transfers of items subject to the EAR to persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to those Executive Orders. In light of the Government of Burma's continued repression of the democratic opposition in Burma and unwillingness to respond to the calls of the Burmese people for genuine dialogue that will lead to a democratic transition in Burma, this final rule amends the EAR to extend these existing licensing requirements to persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13464 of April 30, 2008.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is seeking public comment on whether U.S. export controls influence manufacturers' decisions to use or not use U.S.-origin parts and components in commercial products and the effects of such decisions. BIS is interested in obtaining specific information about whether such a practice occurs, and if so, its economic effects in order to assess the effectiveness of export controls as well as the impact of export controls on the U.S. economy.

This rule revises the authority citation paragraphs for 14 parts of the Export Administration Regulations to include citations to the most recent presidential notices that extend authority for those parts or to remove an outdated citation or both. This rule also updates addresses, telephone numbers, procedures and a definition, removes some potentially confusing language, makes a necessary conforming change to one Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) and restores some language that was dropped during a Code of Federal Regulations compilation. BIS is making these changes to clarify the regulations and to provide accurate authority citations for the Code of Federal Regulations edition that is to be compiled as of January 1, 2009.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 (73 FR 68321) that amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to, among other things, clarify that the terms ``transferred'' and ``transfer'', in the context of two sections of the EAR, meant ``assigned to'' and ``assignment'', respectively. That final rule contained one inadvertent error in the amendatory instruction used for revising one of those two sections. This error in the amendatory instruction led to one sentence of the revised regulatory text to not be revised as was intended in the regulatory text of that final rule. This document corrects that amendatory instruction error by revising that one sentence from that section.

This final rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to clarify how Section 17(c) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (EAA) is implemented in the EAR in accordance with the Department of Commerce's authority under the EAA. On August 14, 2008, the Department of State published a final rule amending Part 121 of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to clarify how Section 17(c) of the EAA is implemented in relation to the ITAR (73 FR 47523). This final rule provides guidance to assist the regulated public in determining what civil aircraft equipment (including parts, accessories, attachments, and components) is subject to the EAR based upon the statutory criteria of the EAA.

This final rule implements the provisions of the Protocol Additional to the Agreement Between the United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the Application of Safeguards in the United States of America (the ``Additional Protocol''). The Additional Protocol is an agreement between the United States and the IAEA to allow monitoring and reporting of certain civil nuclear fuel cycle-related activities. The Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is establishing these Additional Protocol Regulations (APR) to implement the provisions of the Additional Protocol affecting U.S. industry and other U.S. persons engaged in certain civil nuclear fuel cycle-related activities, which are not regulated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) or its domestic Agreement States, and are not located on certain U.S. government locations. The APR describe the requirement to report such activities to BIS, the scope and conduct of IAEA complementary access to locations at which such civil nuclear fuel cycle-related activities take place, and the role of BIS in implementing the Additional Protocol in the United States. The impact of the APR on U.S. industry and other U.S. persons involves the submission of initial reports, annual update reports, and other reporting requirements, as well as on-site activities in conjunction with complementary access. Other U.S. Government agencies issuing regulations to implement other provisions of the Additional Protocol include the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense. On July 25, 2008, BIS published a proposed rule that requested comments on the proposed establishment of the APR. BIS received comments from one respondent and has reviewed these comments and considered them in its preparation of this final rule.

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) will hold a public meeting on October 27, 2008 for those companies, organizations, and individuals that have an interest in learning about the new license exception entitled ``Intra-Company Transfer (ICT)'' that would be established under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) as presented in the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on October 3, 2008. U.S. Government officials will explain the amendments to the EAR proposed in the rule and answer questions from the public.

5 CFR 430.310 requires agencies to publish notice of Performance Review Board appointees in the Federal Register before their service begins. This notice announces the names of new and existing members of the Bureau of Industry and Security's Performance Review Board.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) maintains the Commerce Control List (CCL), which identifies items subject to Department of Commerce export controls. This final rule revises the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement changes made to the Wassenaar Arrangement's List of Dual Use Goods and Technologies (Wassenaar List) maintained and agreed to by governments participating in the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual Use Goods and Technologies (Wassenaar Arrangement, or WA). The Wassenaar Arrangement advocates implementation of effective export controls on strategic items with the objective of improving regional and international security and stability. To harmonize with the changes to the Wassenaar List, this rule revises the EAR by amending certain entries that are controlled for national security reasons in Categories 1, 2, 3, 5 Part I (telecommunications), 5 Part II (information security), 6, 7, and 9; adding new entries to the Commerce Control List (CCL), and amending EAR Definitions, as well as adding definitions. The purpose of this final rule is to revise the CCL and definitions of terms used in the EAR to implement Wassenaar List revisions that were agreed upon in the December 2007 Wassenaar Arrangement Plenary Meeting and the Wassenaar List provisions regarding solar cells agreed upon in the December 2006 plenary meeting. This rule also adds or expands unilateral U.S. export controls and national security export controls on certain items to make them consistent with the amendments made to implement the Wassenaar Arrangement's decisions.