Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 40 / Monday, March 2, 2015 / Proposed Rules 11315 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Bureau of Industry and Security 

15 CFR Part 774 

[Docket No. 150210135–5182–01] 

RIN 0694–XC023 

Notice of Inquiry: Request for 

Comments Regarding Controls on 

Military Aircraft and Military Gas 

Turbine Engines on the Commerce 

Control List 

AGENCY: Bureau of Industry and 

Security, Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of inquiry. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Industry and 

Security (BIS), Department of Commerce 

maintains the Export Administration 

Regulations, including the Commerce 

Control List (CCL). The Export Control 

Reform Initiative, a fundamental reform 

of the U.S. export control system, has 

resulted in transfer to the CCL of items 

that the President has determined do 

not warrant control on the United States 

Munitions List (USML), including 

certain military aircraft, military gas 

turbine engines, and related items. The 

USML is part of the International Traffic 

in Arms Regulations maintained by the 

Department of State. Through this 

notice, BIS is seeking public comments 

to perform a complementary review of 

military aircraft, military gas turbine 

engines, and related items on the CCL 

concurrent with the Department of 

State’s review of the controls 

implemented in its recent revisions to 

Categories VIII and XIX of the USML, 

which control military aircraft and 

military gas turbine engines, to ensure 

that they are clear, do not inadvertently 

control items in normal commercial use, 

account for technological developments, 

and properly implement the national 

security and foreign policy objectives of 

the reform effort. This notice also 

furthers the retrospective regulatory 

review directed by the President in 

Executive Order 13563. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

BIS no later than May 1, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

submitted to the Federal rulemaking 

portal (http://www.regulations.gov). You 

can find this notice by searching on its 

regulations.gov docket number, which is 

BIS–2015–0006. Comments may also be 

submitted via email to 

publiccommments@bis.doc.gov or on 

paper to Regulatory Policy Division, 

Bureau of Industry and Security, Room 

2099B, U.S. Department of Commerce, 

Washington, DC 20230. Please refer to 

RIN 0694–XC023 in all comments and 

in the subject line of email comments. 

All comments (including any personally 

identifying information) will be made 

available for public inspection and 

copying. Commerce’s full plan for 

retrospective regulatory review can be 

accessed at: http://open.commerce.gov/

news/2011/08/23/commerce-planretrospective-analysis-existing-rules. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Todd Willis, Thomas DeFee or Jeffery 

Leitz in the Office of Strategic Industries 

and Economic Security, Munitions 

Control Division at 202 482 4506 or by 

email at Todd.Willis@bis.doc.gov, 

Thomas.DeFee@bis.doc.gov, or 

Jeffrey.Leitz@bis.doc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Bureau of Industry and Security 

(BIS), Department of Commerce 

maintains the Export Administration 

Regulations, including the Commerce 

Control List (CCL). The Export Control 

Reform Initiative, a fundamental reform 

of the U.S. export control system, has 

resulted in transfer to the CCL of items 

that the President has determined do 

not warrant control on the United States 

Munitions List (USML), including 

certain military aircraft, military gas 

turbine engines, and related items. The 

USML is part of the International Traffic 

in Arms Regulations maintained by the 

Department of State. Through this 

notice, BIS is seeking comments to 

perform a complementary review of 

military aircraft, military gas turbine 

engines, and related items on the CCL 

concurrent with the Department of 

State’s review of the controls 

implemented in its recent revisions to 

Categories VIII and XIX of the USML, 

which control military aircraft and 

military gas turbine engines, to ensure 

that they are clear, do not inadvertently 

control items in normal commercial use, 

account for technological developments, 

and properly implement the national 

security and foreign policy objectives of 

the reform effort. 

Specifically, BIS is soliciting 

comments on the clarity, usability and 

any other matters related to 

implementation of the 600 series Export 

Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) 

that control military aircraft and related 

items (ECCNs 9A610, 9B610, 9C610, 

9D610 and 9E610) and military gas 

turbine engines and related items 

(9A619, 9B619, 9C619, 9D619 and 

9E619). 

The Export Control Reform Initiative: 

USML Review and the CCL 

A core element of the Export Control 

Reform (ECR) Initiative has been the 

streamlining of categories on the USML 

and the control on the CCL of items that 

the President determines do not warrant 

USML control. On December 10, 2010, 

the Department of State provided notice 

to the public of its intent, pursuant to 

the ECR initiative, to revise the USML 

to create a more ‘‘positive list’’ that 

describes controlled items using, to the 

extent possible, objective criteria rather 

than broad, open-ended, subjective, or 

design intent-based criteria (see 75 FR 

76935). As a practical matter, this meant 

revising USML categories so that, with 

some exceptions, the descriptions of 

defense articles that continued to 

warrant control under the USML did not 

use catch-all phrases, such as ‘‘specially 

designed’’ or ‘‘specifically designed or 

modified,’’ to control unspecified items. 

With limited exceptions, the defense 

articles that warranted control under the 

USML were those that provided the 

United States with a critical military or 

intelligence advantage. All other items 

were to become subject to the 

jurisdiction of the Export 

Administration Regulations. Since that 

time, the Departments of State and 

Commerce have jointly published final 

rules setting forth revisions for fifteen 

USML categories, each of which has 

been reorganized into a uniform and 

more ‘‘positive list’’ structure, and 

corresponding revisions to the CCL. 

The advantage of revising the USML 

into a more positive list is that its 

controls can be tailored to satisfy the 

national security and foreign policy 

objectives of the ITAR by maintaining 

control over those defense articles that 

provide a critical military or intelligence 

advantage, or otherwise warrant control 

under the ITAR, without inadvertently 

controlling items in normal commercial 

use. This approach, however, requires 

that both the USML and the CCL be 

regularly revised and updated to 

account for technological developments, 

practical application issues identified 

by exporters and reexporters, and 

changes in the military and commercial 

applications of items affected by the 

USML and the 600 series ECCNs. 

The first rules implementing the ECR 

initiative became effective on October 

15, 2013. They implemented revisions 

to Category VIII (aircraft and related 

items), and created Category XIX (gas 

turbine engines and related items) on 

the USML (see 78 FR 22740) as well as 

the 600 series ECCNs 9A610, 9B610, 

9C610, 9D610 and 9E610 (aircraft and 

related items) and 9A619, 9B619, 

9C619, 9D619 and 9E619 (gas turbine 

engines and related items) on the CCL 

(see 78 FR 22660). The Department of 

State is seeking comment from the 

public on the condition and efficacy of 


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11316 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 40 / Monday, March 2, 2015 / Proposed Rules 

the revised Categories VIII and XIX and 

whether they are meeting the ECR 

objectives for the list revisions. BIS will 

make any changes to the CCL that it 

determines are necessary to complement 

USML revisions. However, with this 

notice, BIS is also independently 

seeking comment on how to improve 

the implementation of 600 series ECCNs 

9A610, 9B610, 9C610, 9D610, 9E610, 

9A619, 9B619, 9C619, 9D619 and 

9E619. 

Executive Order 13563 

On January 18, 2011, President Barack 

Obama issued Executive Order 13563, 

affirming general principles of 

regulation and directing government 

agencies to improve regulation and 

regulatory review. Among other things, 

the President stressed the need for the 

regulatory system to allow for public 

participation and an open exchange of 

ideas, as well as promote predictability 

and reduce uncertainty. The President 

also emphasized that regulations must 

be accessible, consistent, written in 

plain language, and easy to understand. 

As part of its ongoing effort to ensure 

that its regulations are clear, effective, 

and up-to-date, BIS is issuing this notice 

soliciting public comments. 

Dated: February 24, 2015. 

Kevin J. Wolf, 

Assistant Secretary for Export 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2015–04293 Filed 2–27–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–33–P 


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