BIS Revises National Security Controls to Implement 2018 Wassenaar Changes
The Bureau of Industry and Security added, revised and made technical changes to export controls in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement changes under the 2018 Wassenaar Arrangement (see 2007220015). Per a final rule released Sept. 10, BIS revised 28 Export Control Classification Numbers, altered license exceptions for four ECCNs, made technical changes to eight ECCNs and created one new ECCN for certain masks and reticles used for sensors. The rule follows a May 2019 rule that added controls to five technologies under the 2018 Wassenaar (see 1905220051).
The changes affect dual-use items in every Commerce Control List category except Category 4, including semiconductor manufacturing equipment, “electronic assemblies” modules and equipment, dimensional inspection or measuring systems, numerically controlled machine tools and optical sensors. The changes take effect Sept. 11.
By creating the new ECCN 6B002, BIS placed controls on masks and reticles specially designed for optical sensors, which will now require a license for national security reasons and anti-terrorism reasons for certain countries. The new restrictions will ensure masks and reticles for sensors are controlled for “sensitive destinations,” BIS said. The agency also said those items are eligible for License Exception LVS (Limited Value Shipment) so long as their net value does not surpass $5,000. They are also eligible for other license exceptions, “depending on the transaction details and eligibility criteria.”
BIS also added certain monolithic microwave integrated circuit amplifiers and discrete microwave transistors to its “sensitive list,” a list with items usually ineligible for license exceptions by Wassenaar members or subject to reporting requirements. The agency said those items “warrant higher levels of control and monitoring.”
Some changes removed restrictions from ECCNs that BIS said would alleviate the agency’s administrative burden. For example: BIS added License Exception GBS -- which allows for exceptions for exports to nations in the EAR’s Shipments to Country Group B -- to ECCN 1A004, which covers protective and detection equipment not “specially designed” for military use. BIS said Wassenaar members deemed those items non-“sensitive,” adding that it has a “long history” of approving licenses for those products. In 2018, according to BIS, it approved 796 of 800 license applications for those items. The agency said the license exception GBS will “alleviate the need for preparing and processing 200 license applications annually” and lift “the burden on reviewing agencies as well as private industry.”
In another change, BIS revised the exclusion parameter for certain imaging cameras with minimum horizontal or vertical “Instantaneous-Field-of View” of at least 10 milliradians to at least 2 milliradians. The agency said the change addresses the increased civilian use of imaging cameras. The agency also will require reporting for exports of thermal imaging cameras only if the export contains more than 100 thermal imaging devices “in a monocular, biocular, or binocular configuration,” BIS said. The agency said the change will “reduce the burden on the public and only require the report for exports of concern.”
Other changes added definitions to help BIS better control items across the EAR. In one change, BIS added definitions for “single transverse mode” and “multiple transverse mode,” which were previously not defined but used to distinguish between parameters of control for certain lasers. BIS said the new definitions include “easily identifiable and measurable characteristics of lasers” so laser controls are “applied consistently.”
All exports, reexports and in-country transfers that now require a license as a result of the changes but are aboard a carrier to a port as of Sept. 11 will be able to proceed to their destinations under the previous eligibility as long as they are exported, reexported or transferred by Nov. 10, BIS said.