Export Reform Not Likely to Impact Existing Export Relations with End-Users, Say State officials
U.S. companies that have traditionally exported items controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to known end-users should invariably be able to export those same items to the same end-users under the Commerce Control List (CCL) “600 series” without a problem if the items are transferred between the lists, said Director of the Office of Conventional Arms Threat Reduction at the Department of State, Ann Ganzer, at the 2014 Update conference in Washington, D.C. “We have to review them, but if it’s something that we’ve seen before and that we have a licensing history on the ITAR side, it should be pretty smooth on the dual use side, unless something’s changed in that country, as always,” she added. The State Department is currently denying export transactions that are determined to aid the Russian military, in light of the ongoing turmoil in Ukraine, but that situation remains “fluid” and regulations may change in the future, Ganzer said.
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Ganzer repeatedly touted the critical nature of multilateral control regimes that the U.S. is party to, such as the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement. The U.S. should also continue to forge ahead with the Arms Trade Treaty, she added. Secretary of State John Kerry signed the treaty in September 2013, but it faces Republican opposition among members who suspect it will infringe on U.S. sovereignty (see 13092610). “It’s a trade regulation treaty focused exclusively on the international trade in conventional arms,” said Granzer. “The Arms Trade Treaty will not change what the United States does on a day-to-day basis to implement effective export controls and import controls on conventional arms. Rather, it will induce other countries to come up to our standards or we hope they will come up to our standards. Our standards actually greatly exceed the requirements of the Arms Trade Treaty.”
Since the first transfers of items from the U.S. Munitions List to the CCL, State Department license applications for export authorizations have sharply declined, said Ken Handelman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for trade and regional security at State, speaking on a panel with Ganzer. State received nearly 90,000 license applications in 2012, the last year before the transfers began, he said. “Some time in 2015, after revised Category XI (Military Electronics) takes effect and begins to make its impact felt … we expect our licensing volume to drop some place below 60,000,” he added. The Category XI transfers will enter into force on Dec. 30, 2014 (see 14070104). The Commerce and State departments have currently finalized rules on 15 of 21 USML categories. -- Brian Dabbs