Department of State June 3, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

As part of the President's Export Control Reform (ECR) initiative, the Department of State proposes to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to update the definitions of ``defense article,'' ``defense services,'' ``technical data,'' ``public domain,'' ``export,'' and ``reexport or retransfer'' in order to clarify the scope of activities and information that are covered within these definitions and harmonize the definitions with the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), to the extent appropriate. Additionally, the Department proposes to create definitions of ``required,'' ``technical data that arises during, or results from, fundamental research,'' ``release,'' ``retransfer,'' and ``activities that are not exports, reexports, or retransfers'' in order to clarify and support the interpretation of the revised definitions that are proposed in this rulemaking. The Department proposes to create new sections detailing the scope of licenses, unauthorized releases of information, and the ``release'' of secured information, and revises the sections on ``exports'' of ``technical data'' to U.S. persons abroad. Finally, the Department proposes to address the electronic transmission and storage of unclassified ``technical data'' via foreign communications infrastructure. This rulemaking proposes that the electronic transmission of unclassified ``technical data'' abroad is not an ``export,'' provided that the data is sufficiently secured to prevent access by foreign persons. Additionally, this proposed rule would allow for the electronic storage of unclassified ``technical data'' abroad, provided that the data is secured to prevent access by parties unauthorized to access such data. The revisions contained in this proposed rule are part of the Department of State's retrospective plan under Executive Order 13563 first submitted on August 17, 2011.