Industry and Security Bureau – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule revises office names and addresses to reflect a recent Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) reorganization, updates the statements of legal authority for ten parts of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), and replaces an outdated statute name and citation with the current name of that statute in one section of the EAR.

This rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by making a technical correction to the contact information for the Drug Enforcement Administration. In addition, this rule amends the EAR by making corrections inadvertently omitted in three rules previously published in the Federal Register: the August 31, 2006, final rule implementing the rescission of Libya's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism; the November 20, 2006, final rule imposing foreign policy controls on surreptitious communications intercepting devices; and the January 26, 2007, final rule imposing restrictions on exports and reexports of luxury goods to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).

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 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 (BIS) is publishing this final rule to amend the Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations (CWCR) to expedite the collection of information concerning the inspection status of plant sites that produce unscheduled discrete organic chemicals (UDOCs) subject to the declaration requirements of the CWCR, to clarify the scope of the CWCR records review and recordkeeping requirements, and to update the maximum civil penalty that may be imposed for violations of the CWCR restrictions on imports of Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 chemicals. The CWCR include requirements to declare certain activities, involving scheduled chemicals and UDOCs, and to provide access for on-site verification by international inspectors of certain declared facilities in the United States. Specifically, this final rule amends the CWCR by revising the annual declaration requirements for UDOCs to allow a ``declared'' plant site currently subject to inspection, which anticipates that its production of UDOCs during the current calendar year will be below the inspection threshold level indicated in the CWCR, to submit a Change in Inspection Status Form to BIS by December 15th of the current calendar year. In addition, any such UDOC plant site containing at least one plant that anticipates producing an individual PSF chemical (i.e., a UDOC containing the elements phosphorus, sulfur or fluorine) in quantities that exceed the declaration threshold for such chemicals will have the option of submitting its Annual Declaration on Past Activities, in lieu of a Change in Inspection Status Form, by December 15th of the current calendar year. Otherwise, the CWCR require that the Annual Declaration on Past Activities be submitted by February 28th of the following year. The information provided to BIS, as a result of this change, will ensure that the plant site is not subject to inspection during the first 90 days of the next calendar year (i.e., the year after the UDOC activities took place), which is the period when the United States compiles its annual declaration on past activities for submission to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). In addition, this information will strengthen the verification regime of the CWC by allowing the OPCW to schedule inspections, on a year-round basis, of those UDOC facilities in the United States that meet or exceed the inspection threshold level indicated in the CWCR. This rule also amends the CWCR by revising the records review provisions to clarify that a facility must provide the OPCW Inspection Team with access to all supporting materials and documentation used by the facility to prepare declarations and to otherwise comply with the CWCR, including records related to activities that have taken place at the facility since the beginning of the previous calendar year (i.e., up to and including the date of the inspection), even if the facility has not submitted its current year Annual Declaration on Past Activities to BIS at the time the inspection takes place. In addition, this rule revises the CWCR records review and recordkeeping requirements to clarify that the types of records that are subject to these requirements include all supporting materials and documentation associated with the movement into, around, and from the facility of declared chemicals and their feedstock or any product chemicals formed from such chemicals and feedstock. The purpose of this clarification is to ensure that the CWCR records review and recordkeeping requirements fully conform with the inspection aims described in the inspection provisions of the CWCR, which include verifying the absence of Schedule 1 chemicals and the non-diversion of Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 chemicals. This rule amends the enforcement provisions of the CWCR to increase the maximum civil penalty that may be imposed for violations of the CWCR restrictions on imports of CWC Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 chemicals from $11,000 to $50,000 to reflect amendments to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) made by the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, which was enacted on March 9, 2006. Finally, this rule updates the list of countries that currently are States Parties to the CWC by adding the Central African Republic and Comoros, which recently became States Parties, and by replacing the listing for Serbia and Montenegro with a separate listing for each country.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register on Monday, November 27, 2006 (71 FR 68438) that amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to add ``Montenegro'' and ``Serbia'' as separate countries in the EAR and to establish separate export licensing requirements for Montenegro and Serbia. The November 27, 2006, final rule omitted a conforming amendment to the list of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in the EAR. This document corrects that rule by listing Serbia and Montenegro as separate countries on that list.

This rule removes the geographic restrictions on use of a license exception used to ship items to U.S. government agencies, applies those geographic restrictions on use of license exceptions to crime control software and technology, reclassifies thumbcuffs on the Commerce Control List, and restates and emphasizes BIS's policy of distinguishing crime control items from specially designed implements of torture for export control purposes.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to add two entities located in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) to the Entity List. The Entity List is a compilation of end-users that present an unacceptable risk of using or diverting certain items to activities related to weapons of mass destruction. BIS requires a license for most exports or reexports to these entities and maintains the Entity List to inform the public of these license requirements.

The Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is considering amendments to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to further the national security interests of the United States by designating Country Group C for countries that are ``Destinations of Diversion Concern.'' This amendment would establish license requirements for exports and reexports to countries that represent a concern for the diversion of items subject to the EAR. BIS by this notice requests comments on Country Group C.

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 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)).

In accordance with recent United Nations (UN) Security Council resolutions and the foreign policy interests of the United States, the United States Government is imposing restrictions on exports and reexports of luxury goods to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and is continuing to restrict exports and reexports of nuclear or missile-related items and other items included on the Commerce Control List (CCL). To this end, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to impose license requirements for the export and reexport of virtually all items subject to the EAR to North Korea, except food and medicines not listed on the CCL. BIS will generally deny applications to export and reexport luxury goods, e.g., luxury automobiles; yachts; gems; jewelry; other fashion accessories; cosmetics; perfumes; furs; designer clothing; luxury watches; rugs and tapestries; electronic entertainment software and equipment; recreational sports equipment; tobacco; wine and other alcoholic beverages; musical instruments; art; and antiques and collectible items including but not limited to rare coins and stamps. BIS will continue to generally deny applications to export and reexport arms and related materiel controlled on the CCL and items controlled under the multilateral export control regimes (the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group, and the Wassenaar Arrangement). This includes items specified in UN documents S/2006/814, S/2006/815 and S/2006/853. BIS will also generally deny applications to export and reexport other items that the UN determines could contribute to North Korea's nuclear-related, ballistic missile-related, or other weapons of mass destruction-related programs. BIS will also generally approve applications to export or reexport: non-food, non-medical humanitarian items (e.g., blankets, basic footwear, heating oil, and other items meeting subsistence needs) intended for the benefit of the North Korean people; items in support of United Nations humanitarian efforts; and agricultural commodities and medical devices that are determined not to be luxury goods. BIS will review on a case-by-case basis applications to export and reexport all other items subject to the EAR.