Two BIS Rules on Emerging, Foundational Technology Controls Coming in Weeks, Borman Says
Two new export control rules from the Bureau of Industry and Security on emerging and foundational technologies are weeks away, said Matt Borman, BIS deputy assistant secretary-export administration, during the Feb. 23 meeting of the agency’s Emerging Technology Technical Advisory Committee.
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One rule will implement controls on emerging and foundational technologies agreed to by the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement in December. “We’re looking to get that out for interagency clearance and then publication in the next few weeks,” Borman said. The other proposal covers two distinct foundational technologies, and is anticipated in the “next couple weeks.” The rules will mark the first foundational technology controls issued by the agency since the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 mandated them (see 2201280045).
The two rules are the first that BIS has managed to keep ahead of the multilateral control review cycle, Borman said. The agency is trying to identify any emerging or foundational technology controls early in the calendar year, so it can get them to advisory committee review and out for comment in time to havethem ready by the beginning of the next calendar year, when proposals to the four multilateral control regimes are generally due, Borman said.
“The cycle we would like to get into is, whatever potential emerging or foundational proposals might warrant regime review, we do that in the first half of each calendar year, so that we tee them up for the following calendar year for the relevant multilateral regime to look at,” Borman said.
As stakeholders review the rules, Borman said, he encourages them to look not just at the substance and clarity of the proposals, but also how BIS is “effectively defining what’s emerging and what’s foundational technology.” That has been the topic of “considerable discussion,” and BIS has been “a little reluctant to try to come up with a definitive definition of emerging or foundational, thinking that it makes more sense to have it evolve as we identify technologies,” Borman said.