Commerce's Preliminary 21st Century Plan to Review Existing Rules
The Commerce Department has issued its Preliminary Plan for Retrospective Review of Existing Rules, which is required under Executive Order 135361 and is part of the President’s plan to create a “21st-century regulatory system.” Commerce's plan includes a review of the International Trade Administration and Bureau of Industry and Security regulations.
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(The White House recently posted 30 preliminary plans for “21st Century” regulations that were submitted by government agencies, including the State Department’s. See ITT’s Online Archives or 05/31/11 news, 11053130, for BP summary.)
BIS, ITA Significant Regulations Are Candidates for Review
To carry out EO 13563 for retrospective review and analysis of regulations, Commerce's plan focuses on those bureaus that have the highest volume of regulatory activity and regulations deemed “significant.” Commerce states that ITA and BIS are among the bureaus with rules that are candidates for review of the next two years.
ITA to Review FTZ Regs, AD/V Duties, Withdraw Regs on Cotton Imports, Etc.
The following ITA regulations are to be reviewed or removed as part of this plan:
FTZB regulations -- The Foreign Trade Zones Board is collecting comments on its proposed update and revision of the current FTZ regulations, and anticipates that final regulations will be issued within the next two years. Those final regulations would respond to and incorporate comments received on the proposed rule.
AD/CV duties -- ITA states that it anticipates there may be modifications to a significant number of antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty laws upon completion of the WTO Doha Round. Therefore, ITA intends to implement a periodic review of these regulations ten years following the issuance of final regulations incorporating the results of completed Doha Round negotiations.
Withdraw regs on cotton woven fabric imports TRQ -- The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 sets forth tariff rate quotas (TRQs) for imports of cotton woven fabric. The TRQ on cotton woven fabric expired on December 31, 2009. Accordingly, these regulations are no longer applicable and ITA intends to withdraw them.
Withdraw certain regs on steel imports -- Regulations on the short supply procedures for steel imports in 19 CFR 357.101-111 pertain to voluntary restraints on certain steel imports from October 1, 1989 through March 31, 1992. Since these regulations are no longer applicable, ITA plans to withdraw them.
Rules Related to Export Control Reform Initiative is BIS' Priority for Review
The Export Control Reform Initiative will be BIS' priority for review as part of this plan. Benefits generated by specific rules in process include the following:
New License Exception STA -- This exception would remove license requirements for low-risk transactions while implementing safeguards to ensure items are not reexported without authorization to higher-risk destinations.
Making CCL more objective -- A more objective Commerce Control List (CCL) based entirely on objective, physical criteria would help exporters more easily determine their items' classification, which in turn would help determines if a license is required.
Tiering export control lists -- Dividing export control lists into tiers according to the sensitivity of the items would allow effective and flexible targeting of export controls.
Flexible controls for less significant defense articles -- The Administration estimates that as many as 30,000 of the licenses for basic defense articles handled in 2010 by the State Department under the less flexible International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) would be transferred to Commerce to be administered under the authority of the more flexible Export Administration Regulations (EAR).
1On January 18, 2011, the President issued EO 13563, "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review," which requires retrospective review of significant rules. EO 13563 requires each Executive Branch agency to develop a preliminary plan to periodically review its existing regulations to determine whether any regulations should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed so as to make the agency’s regulatory program more effective or less burdensome in achieving its regulatory objectives. The plans were due to the Office of Management and Budget by May 18, 2011. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 01/19/11 news, 11011915, for BP summary.)
(See ITT's Online Archives or 06/08/11, 06/07/11, 06/06/11, 06/03/11, 06/02/11, and 06/01/11 news, 11060803, 11060702, 11060303, 11060302, 11060204, and 11060121, for BP summaries of the Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Energy, Treasury, State and Homeland Security's preliminary plans.)