International Law Advisory - Bureau of Industry and Security Amends EAR to Implement Wassenaar Arrangement Changes

On Friday, July 15, 2005, the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security implemented a variety of changes to the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”), in furtherance of agreements between the United States and the other member countries of the Wassenaar Arrangement.1 The regulation was published in the Federal Register at 70 Fed. Reg. 41,903 (July 15, 2005), and is available for download here.

The new rules are effective immediately.  However, the implementing regulation includes a savings clause providing that shipments en-route by August 15 may be exported under the old licensing policy in effect prior to the July 15 regulation, so long as they are exported from the United States by September 13, 2005.

The regulation revises a wide range of categories of the EAR’s Commerce Control List.  Given the extensive nature of the revisions, which are set forth in detail in the attached link, we suggest this be brought to the attention of individuals within your organization responsible for administering dual use controls for your company’s exports.  The following are brief summaries of the most notable changes:

• National Security (“NS”) and Regional Security (“RS”) controls have been tightened for certain acoustical equipment, optical sensors, and cameras described in ECCNs 6A001, 6A002, and 6A003.  An export license is now required for such exports to all destinations that are not Country Group A:1 countries or cooperating countries (see Supplement 1 to Part 740 of the EAR).
  
• NS controls also have been tightened for certain gyros and accelerometers controlled under ECCN 7A002.  Licenses are now required for such products to all countries except Canada.
  
• The descriptions in the following ECCNs have been revised to clarify the scope of the products that are covered in each category:  1C008, 2B001, 2B005, 2B006, 2B201, 3A001, 3A001, 3A002, 3B001, 3B002, 3B991, 3B992, 4D001, 4E001, 5A001, 6A001, 6A002, 6A003, 6A006, 6A993, 6A996, 6E001, 6E002, 6E003, 6E991, 6E993, 7A002, 7A007, 8A002, and 9A001.
  
• License Exception CTP (computers) has been amended to raise the license exception eligibility limit from 75,000 to 190,000 million theoretical operations per second (“MTOPS”) for deemed exports of computer technology and source code to foreign nationals of Computer Tier 3 destinations.
  
• Restrictions have been eased on the export of CCL Category 4 computers and computer software technology under License Exception GOV (government-related exports).
  

If you have any specific questions regarding the latest revisions to the EAR, please contact Ed Krauland (202-429-8083) or David Lorello (202-429-6757).

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1 The Wassenaar is a thirty-three member multilateral organization devoted to export controls law; its website is www.wassenaar.org.