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.
Lack of respect for intellectual property (IP) rights and govt. control of the media hinder China’s relationship with the U.S. and don’t reflect commitments made when the country joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), a bipartisan commission said Tues. The U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission created by Congress in 2000 submitted a 300-page report to Capitol Hill that said trends in China have “negative implications” for long-term U.S. security. Commission Chmn. Roger Robinson said the U.S. trade deficit with China was $214 billion in 2003, but would have been less if China had adhered to its WTO obligations. Vice Chmn. Richard D'Amato said that when China was admitted to the WTO, “certain assumptions were made,” including that China would have “new openness in information flows [and] enhanced respect for the rule of law.” IP rights and media restrictions were 2 of the 9 areas of the U.S.-China relationship examined by the Commission. One of the report’s key findings was that China has a poor enforcement record on IP rights protection, and it recommended Congress “press the administration to make more use of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and/or U.S. trade laws to redress unfair Chinese trade practices.” The report also found “there has in practice been no fundamental change in the Chinese government’s approach to controlling the media, including information available through the Internet.” Content monitoring goes beyond the Internet, the report said. For instance, China has 277 million cell phones that are used regularly by citizens, but the Chinese govt. is monitoring cell phone users’ text messages. The Internet “is a growing focus of China’s information control efforts,” the report said, with web sites blocked and content filtered. Combined with China’s continued control over traditional media, Chinese citizens receive a distorted image of the U.S. and its policies, the report said. The Commission recommended Congress increase funding for Bcstg. Board of Governors’ (BBG) programs “aimed at circumventing China’s Internet firewall through the development of anticensorship technologies.” The Commission specifically endorsed the Global Internet Freedom Act, HR-48 by House Select Homeland Security Committee Chmn. Cox (R-Cal.) and S-1183 by Senate Judiciary Technology Subcommittee Chmn. Kyl (R-Ariz.), which would create an Office of Global Internet Freedom in BBG to target China and other countries. The Commission also said the Commerce Dept. and other agencies should review export administration regulations “to determine whether restrictions are needed on the export of U.S. equipment, software, and technologies that permit the Chinese government to surveil its own people or censor free speech.”
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.