We have a handful of developments out of the Commerce Department, with revisions to controlled items, human rights review, and license extensions.\u00a0 At the end, there are two developments out of Middle East<\/p>\n
Commerce Implements 2018 & 2019 Wassenaar<\/strong> Revisions<\/strong><\/p>\n On September 11, 2020, the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a rule (85 FR 56294<\/a>) implementing changes to the Wassenaar Arrangement List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies made at the December 2018 Plenary meeting.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Wassenaar Arrangement<\/a>\u00a0on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies is a global multilateral export control regime, covering both conventional weapons and sensitive dual-use goods and technologies.\u00a0 Participants agree to control exports and retransfers of items on a control list of dual-use goods and technologies and munitions.\u00a0 Its Plenary meeting normally occurs once a year in December in Vienna, Austria.\u00a0 CCL revisions take effect when officially amended through a Federal Register notice<\/p>\n BIS previously issued a rule in May 2019<\/a> that added and revised five ECCNs based on the December 2018 Plenary meeting.\u00a0 The new rule reflects the changes that were remaining:<\/p>\n Revisions to 28 ECCNs:<\/p>\n License Exception Revisions to ECCNs:<\/p>\n New ECCN:<\/p>\n Conforming Changes to Eight ECCNs:<\/p>\n A series of corrections to the September ECCN revisions were published on December 4, 2020 (85 FR 78684<\/a>), affecting some technical specifications and revising technical notes.<\/p>\n On October 5, 2020, BIS published a rule (85 FR 62583<\/a>) implementing changes to the Wassenaar Arrangement List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies made at the December 2019 Plenary meeting.\u00a0 The changes harmonize the Commerce Control List (CCL) with the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement by adding six emerging technologies:<\/p>\n The specific Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) affected are as follows:<\/p>\n Revised: 2B001, 3D003, 5E001, 5A004, 9A004 Eligibility to use the License Exception ENC was also revised to include digital forensics items (investigative tools).<\/p>\n For complete details on the revisions, refer to the Federal Register Notice<\/a>.\u00a0 BIS also published a press release<\/a> on these and related changes to the CCL.<\/p>\n Proposed Controls on Nucleic Acid Assembler and Synthesizer Software<\/strong><\/p>\n On November 6, 2020, BIS published a proposed rule (85 FR 71012<\/a>) which would control software related to nucleic acid assemblers and synthesizers.\u00a0 The proposed rule would create a new ECCN 2D352 related to existing ECCN 2B352.j.\u00a0 Both ECCNs would be controlled under CB (chemical and biological weapons) column 2 and AT (anti-terrorism) column 1.\u00a0 This proposal is in addition to current Wassenaar or Australia Group controls.\u00a0 Comments may be submitted through December 21, 2020.<\/p>\n Commerce Announces Human Rights Reviews & Controls on Water Cannons<\/strong><\/p>\n On October 6, 2020, BIS published a rule (85 FR 63007<\/a>) amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to provide for human rights review for items controlled for CC (crime control) purposes, as well as all license applications (\u201cexcept for items controlled for short supply reasons\u201d).\u00a0 In the Federal Register Notice, BIS notes that:<\/p>\n BIS will generally consider license applications favorably on a case-by-case basis unless there is civil disorder in the country or region of destination or unless there is evidence that the government of the importing country may have violated internationally recognized human rights.<\/p>\n This follows on the September release of surveillance and human rights guidance<\/a> by the Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL).<\/p>\n Also on October 6, 2020, BIS published a rule (85 FR 63009<\/a>) which creates a license requirement for \u201cwater cannon systems for riot or crowd control and parts and components specially designed therefor.\u201d\u00a0 The new rule creates ECCNs 0A977, 0D977 and 0E977 which will require licenses for export to countries designated under CC (crime control) Column 1 of the Commerce Country Chart<\/a>.<\/p>\n This action was directed by Public Law 116-77 \u201cto prohibit the commercial export of covered munitions items to the Hong Kong Police Force,\u201d but also affects exports to other countries.\u00a0 The license requirement will apply to most countries except for NATO allies and some other military allies and subjects water cannons to human rights review.<\/p>\n Revised National Security Review for China, Venezuela, and Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n On October 29, 2020, BIS published a rule (85 FR 68448<\/a>) \u201cto revise the license review policy for items controlled for national security reasons destined to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Venezuela, or the Russian Federation (Russia).\u201d\u00a0 The focus of the policy will be whether the National Security (NS) controlled items \u201cmake a material contribution\u201d to those countries\u2019 weapons systems subject to a presumption of denial.<\/p>\n Commerce Offers License Extensions<\/strong><\/p>\n On October 16, 2020, BIS announced<\/a> that exporters may request a six-month extension for licenses due to expire on or before December 31, 2020.<\/p>\n Requests should be sent by email to LicenseExtensionRequest@bis.doc.gov<\/a> and BIS expects to review and approve extensions within two to three business days.<\/p>\n Antiboycott & Anti-Terrorism Updates for UAE & Sudan?<\/strong><\/p>\n Two developing stories that we are watching, but that have not yet been reflected in regulations are based on diplomatic agreements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Sudan.<\/p>\n The Department of the Treasury released its current list of \u201ccountries which require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott\u201d (85 FR 64615<\/a>). \u00a0The list includes:<\/p>\n There are no changes compared to last year\u2019s release (84 FR 54730<\/a>, October 10, 2019), but the notice does state that \u201cTreasury is monitoring the situation of the United Arab Emirates, which has announced the issuance of a decree repealing its boycott law.\u201d\u00a0 The UAE and Israel recently agreed to normalization of relations<\/a>.\u00a0 A similar agreement was reached between Israel and Bahrain<\/a>, but Bahrain was not included on the Treasury list.<\/p>\n On October 23, 2020, the White House announced<\/a> the President\u2019s intention to \u201cformally rescind Sudan\u2019s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.\u201d\u00a0 This action is based on an agreement reached with Sudan resolving \u201ccertain claims of United States victims of terror and their families.\u201d\u00a0 Following a 45-day Congressional notification window, the designation may be rescinded.\u00a0 Sudan is currently the only country designated as requiring export licenses for Anti-Terrorism (AT) purposes on the Commerce Country Chart<\/a> that is not subject to comprehensive restrictions.\u00a0 This requirement should be revised following the formal rescission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We have a handful of developments out of the Commerce Department, with revisions to controlled items, human rights review, and license extensions.\u00a0 At the end, there are two developments out of Middle East Commerce Implements 2018 & 2019 Wassenaar Revisions On September 11, 2020, the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-compliance","category-licensing"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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\nRevised: 5D002, 5E002, 9A012, 9A515
\nCorrected: 5D001
\nAdded: 3E004<\/p>\n\n