As the partial government shutdown continues, please note that the Departments of State and Commerce have put export licensing on hold.
The Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls published the following notice on their website:
Industry Notice: Lapse in funding
Due to the lapse in funding affecting the Department of State that occurred at 12:01am on Saturday, December 22, 2018, services at the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls are significantly curtailed, including requests for licenses, advisory opinions, and retransfers except for those that provide direct support to the military, humanitarian aid, or other similar emergencies. In addition, the 3pm daily pick-up and drop-off service is cancelled. All D-Trade electronic submissions will be rejected by the system and returned to the applicant. Requests that are currently in process at DDTC as of December 21, 2018, will remain in that status however; further review actions will be delayed until after restoration of funding. If industry applicants believe they have a case (either “In-Review” or new submission required) involving direct support to the military, humanitarian aid, or other similar emergencies, please email the DDTC Response Team (DDTCResponseTeam@state.gov). The subject line of your email MUST read “Request for Emergency License” and the message must include the license number (if already pending with DDTC) the applicant name and registration code, the end-use/end-user, justification for needing an emergency license, and a point of contact. The Directorate will contact the requestor with guidance on how to proceed if the request will be honored. (12.22.19)
Notably, D-Trade is not offline, but new applications will be rejected and will need to be resubmitted once normal operations resume.
SNAP-R, the Department of Commerce’s licensing application, has been taken offline and the following message posted:
Due to the lapse in government funding, snapr.bis.doc.gov and all associated online activities will be unavailable until further notice.
The Department of Defense is not affected by the shutdown and pending case statuses can still be viewed through ELISA.
Update, January 24, 2019
The Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has reopened and posted the following notice:
Effective Thursday, January 24, 2019, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) will temporarily return to full operational status with all electronic application systems placed in normal operational mode and the 3pm daily pick-up and drop-off service restored. Priority will be placed on issuance of licenses in the system at the time of implementation of lapse of funding operations on December 22, 2018. New licenses will be accepted; however, industry is advised of the likelihood of longer than normal processing times due to the high volume of licenses DDTC expects to receive. The “Emergency License” process described in DDTC’s December 22, 2018 announcement below is hereby suspended.
Update, January 28, 2019
With the “temporary” end to the partial government shutdown, SNAP-R and the Consolidated Screening List are back online. Licensing delays are anticipated as the offices get back to work.