Obama Administration Releases Draft Rules to Ease Satellite Export Controls – update
UPDATE, May 24: Links to the proposed rules as published in the Federal Register have been added.
ORIGINAL STORY, May 23: The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) announced the news this afternoon that the Obama Administration has released the draft rules for easing export controls on satellites. It is another step in a process likely to last for many more months as the Administration implements export control changes agreed to in the FY2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The satellite industry has been trying for more than a decade to move commercial satellites off the State Department’s strict Munitions List and its International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and over to the dual-use Commerce Control List at the Department of Commerce.
SIA provided links to the draft regulations issued by the Department of State and the Department of Commerce. Those websites state that the draft rules will be published in tomorrow’s Federal Register (May 24), the official method by which the government publicizes regulatory proceedings.
The draft rules were indeed published in the Federal Register on May 24. The State Department’s draft rule is at this site, and the Commerce Department’s at this site.
Comments are due 45 days after publication in the Federal Register (July 8, 2013).
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