Bipartisan support for satellite export reform will continue whether President Barack Obama is re-elected or a new administration takes office under Mitt Romney, lawmakers and satellite industry experts said. If the administration changes, there could be a delay in implementing reforms as new Cabinet members and department heads are put in place, some executives said. This year, the House passed the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization bill (HR-4310), which included an amendment that would ease export regulation of domestic satellites and components (CD May 21 p3). The provision was similar to legislation introduced by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which proposed removing commercial satellites from the U.S. munitions list to a less restrictive list.
Export control reform faces difficulty in balancing business and national security concerns, said Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank. It’s “important that our export control reform efforts don’t get in the way of our innovation efforts, and whenever possible, don’t get in the way of our production and export opportunities,” she said last week at a meeting of the President’s Export Council Subcommittee on Export Administration. The Bureau of Industry and Security has seven proposed rules awaiting approval from the Office of Management and Budget, said Eric Hirschhorn, BIS undersecretary for industry and security. The interagency review process for the rules is done, but OMB has other agencies’ rules to review as well, he said. BIS hopes to have the unified USXPORTS IT platform in initial operability for the State Department and the Commerce Department sometime this fall, Hirschhorn said. The first required notification to Congress of movement of items from the U.S. munitions list (USML) to the commerce control list will hopefully occur this fall, but depends in part on how quickly the review of the specially designed definition progresses, he said. BIS also continues pushing to restore presidential authority to determine export controls on satellites, currently controlled on the USML per statutory mandate, but the House legislation to accomplish this goal still includes provisions that could “delay or cripple” the Export Control Reform initiative, Hirschhorn said. This year, the House passed the FY13 National Defense Authorization bill, which includes a provision that reduces the cost for U.S. manufacturers to export satellites and components (CD May 21 p3). BIS is pushing for constructive changes to these provisions before the national defense authorization bill, which contains the relevant provisions, reaches President Barack Obama’s desk, which will probably be late in this calendar year, Hirschhorn said.
Some provisions of the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013, passed on May 18, “could cripple and certainly would delay substantially the overall Export Control Reform initiative,” said Undersecretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Eric Hirschhorn at a meeting of the President’s Export Council Subcommittee on Export Administration on Monday. Hirschhorn said he hopes the first ECR rules will be finalized this summer or fall.
The use of services in the private sector is critical to national space missions, and policies and frameworks are needed to allow commercial involvement to thrive, satellite executives and government officials said Friday. At the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference in Washington, NASA’s chief and executives said having companies participate in government efforts is good for both stakeholders. Policies should be multi-generational to encourage the investments in the commercial space and satellite markets, said Steve Cook, director of space technologies at Dynetics.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., introduced a bill that would authorize the Administration to tailor export restrictions on less sensitive satellites. The Safeguarding United States Leadership and Security Act, S-3211, is the companion to the House bill, HR-3288 introduced by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif. Bennet’s bill is based on recommendations from the Defense and State departments that suggested a removal of some satellites and equipment from the U.S. Munitions List (CD April 19 p7), Bennet said. It allows the president to place non-critical satellites on the Commerce Control List, allowing them to be regulated “in a manner consistent with other items that could serve both a commercial and military purpose.” It also prohibits the transfer of satellites to countries like China, Iran and Cuba and to “state sponsors of terrorism identified under the Export Administration Act,” he said.
House lawmakers took a major step to change export regulations for commercial satellites Friday when it passed the $643 billion FY13 National Defense Authorization bill (HR-4310). The bill included a provision to reduce the cost and burdens for U.S. manufacturers to export domestic satellites and components, some satellite industry executives said. Lawmakers approved the bill by a 299-120 vote despite a veto threat from the White House.
The departments of Defense and State released a final report to Congress Wednesday reassessing export controls on satellites and related technologies. It recommends freeing some types of satellites and their components from application of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) rules. The report (http://xrl.us/bm4esv) would allow “industry to compete in the global market,” including satellite exports, said Greg Schulte, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy. Shifting some items from the U.S. munitions list (USML) to the Commerce Control List (CCL) would allow government “to focus our controls and enforcement on technologies and the capabilities that are truly sensitive to our national security,” he said at the National Space Symposium in Colorado.
PALO ALTO -- The Bush Administration plans to start coordination between the new Homeland Security Dept. (DHS) and the Commerce Dept.’s Technology Administration (TA), a Commerce official disclosed late Tues.
Export regulation and enforcement will continue to be core function of Bureau of Industry & Security (BIS), but agency increasingly will take action in areas of cybersecurity and homeland security, Undersecy. Kenneth Juster told Commerce Dept. advisory panel Tues. BIS until last month was known as Bureau of Export Administration. In response to growing national and economic security concerns, BIS this fall will release cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection policy guidelines, Juster told BIS Regulations & Procedures Technical Advisory Committee.
National Exchange Carrier Assn. (NECA) filed new access tariff revisions with FCC “under protest” because they reflect end user charges to recover Universal Service Fund contributions, which NECA doesn’t support. NECA said it filed tariff Mon. to comply with FCC order but order didn’t grant NECA’s request to recover these contributions from long distance carriers, rather than end users, through explicit per-min. charge. New access charge tariffs include 1.9% increase for traffic sensitive switched access and 10.3% increase for composite carrier common line (CCL) rate. Traffic sensitive special access rates remained unchanged.