On May 1, 2024, the Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) issued a proposed rule (89 FR 35028) to create a new license exception to support the AUKUS (Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) Trilateral Security Partnership.
The proposed exemption includes four main elements:
- Creates “an exemption to the requirement to obtain a license or other approval from the Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) prior to any export, reexport, retransfer, or temporary import of defense articles; the performance of defense services; or engagement in brokering activities between or among authorized users within Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States” (new § 126.7, currently reserved);
- Includes a “list of defense articles and defense services excluded from eligibility for transfer under the proposed new exemption” (affects multiple USML categories);
- Expands “the scope of the exemption for intra-company, intra-organization, and intra-governmental transfers to allow for the transfer of classified defense articles to certain dual nationals who are authorized users or regular employees of an authorized user within the United Kingdom and Australia” (new § 126.18(e)); and
- Revises “the section on expediting license review applications by referencing new processes for Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada” (126.15).
The exemption is limited to authorized users and with an excluded list of articles and defense services, which is a similar approach to the existing Canadian Exemption (§ 126.6) as well as the Australia and UK Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty exemptions (§ 126.16 and § 126.17). The proposed exemption does not amend the treaty exemptions, but is intended to be broader in scope and easier to use.
Unlike the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) which issued an interim final rule implementing changes to the to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), this is only a proposed rule and will require a subsequently published rule to make any new exemption effective. That rule is expected sometime after review of comments is complete.
Comments will be accepted through May 31, 2024. The Federal Register Notice contains additional details on how to submit comments. Industry organizations are also collecting input for group comments.