ITAR

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In our blog shop, most of the news we scan is the nerdy minutia of regulatory nuance. But the other day, we found big news, a real scoop. The ITAR will be rewritten to remove guns and ammunition from its control.

Yes, you read that correctly, a plan has been proposed within the State Department to migrate the first three categories of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to the control of the Export Administration Regulations within the coming year. Whether the State Department will go so far as to rename ITAR Part 121 the United States Munitions List (USML), the “United States List” remains to be seen.
Continue Reading The United States Munitions List: When Guns Come Off of the ITAR

The United States has a responsibility, or so the State Department tells us, to ensure the sales and exports of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are consistent with U.S. national security interests, U.S. policy, and even U.S. values. While the government would be glad to keep the export of military drones in lock-step with our policy goals, the realities of a rapidly expanding UAS market and global competition has forced export regulators to consider how to balance the potential loss of economic opportunity against the loss of control of UAS technology.
Continue Reading Read the Directions Carefully Before Playing: State Department Releases Military Drone Export Guidance

Every time there is a new round of reforms under the President’s Export Control Reform initiative, we hear the same advice:

  1. Controls on certain items are eliminated or reduced (which creates new opportunities for manufacturers and exporters); but
  2. The new rules bring new complexities, so be careful.

Attorneys in the export control space correspondingly inundate us with articles advising, in effect, call your export control lawyer.Continue Reading Military Electronics Export Reform: Let the Chips Fall Where They May

The U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to restrict exports to Venezuela of certain items intended for “a military end use or end user.”  These changes complement a pre-existing U.S. arms embargo against Venezuela – in place since 2006 – that was imposed because of Venezuela’s failure to cooperate on counterterrorism initiatives.
Continue Reading Drop Your Weapons: The United States Restricts Military Exports to Venezuela

Glancing through the fictional but fascinating Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Rsch. Ford Prefect; Pub. Megadodo Publications), one might recognize that the assertions therein are a bit confusing. Similarly, one might become confused when reviewing another, less whimsical, guide to the galaxy: the revised United States Munitions List Category XV – Spacecraft and Related Articles.

On November 10, 2014 Export Control Reform revisions will go into effect reshaping the USML category that has covered communications satellites for nearly 20 years. If you are responsible for complying with satellite export controls, we offer the same profound and pithy advice one finds right on the cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide, “Don’t Panic.”Continue Reading ECR Episode XI: Rewriting the Guide to the Galaxy – Satellites Passed to Commerce Control

Here is a summary of export data for the first year after the initial implementation of ECR:

  • There have been over 61,000 shipments of 600 series items since October 2013.
  • The 600 series exports are valued at approximately $2.1 billion.
  • The top 600 series ECCNs exported are:

Continue Reading Bulletin: Commerce Department Statistics on the First Year of Export Control Reform

The Year Mark

Apparently, it is now fashionable among my peers to host elaborate parties in honor of the first birthdays of their children. I have attended a number of these fêtes, and been impressed to just what lengths the parents will go to celebrate twelve months of growth and achievement for a Guest of Honor who will almost certainly not recall the event. However, we at the Global Trade Law Blog are nothing if not fashionable (thanks to our firm’s Fashion and Apparel blog – your move, “white shoe” firms) and are not to be left out of the latest trend.  As such, we are throwing our own birthday party, celebrating the first anniversary of Export Control Reform.Continue Reading ECR Episode IX: The Export Control Reform Turns One – What are Your Plans for the Big Celebration?