I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3627
To amend the Export Administration Act of 1979 with respect to the control
of computers and related equipment.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 22, 1993
Ms. CANTWELL (for herself and Mr. MANZULLO) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To amend the Export Administration Act of 1979 with
respect to the control of computers and related equipment.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. GENERALLY AVAILABLE SOFTWARE.
Section 17 of the Export Administration Act of 1979
(50 U.S.C. App. 2416) is amended by adding at the end
thereof the following new subsection:
‘‘(g) COMPUTERS AND RELATED EQUIPMENT.—
‘‘(1) GENERAL RULE.—Subject to paragraphs
(2) and (3), the Secretary shall have exclusive au-
thority to control exports of all computer hardware,
software, and technology for information security
(including encryption), except that which is specifi-
cally designed or modified for military use, including
command, control, and intelligence applications.
‘‘(2) ITEMS
NOT
REQUIRING
LICENSES.—No
validated license may be required, except pursuant
to the Trading With The Enemy Act or the Inter-
national Emergency Economic Powers Act (but only
to the extent that the authority of such Act is not
exercised to extend controls imposed under this Act),
for the export or reexport of—
‘‘(A) any software, including software with
encryption capabilities, that is—
‘‘(i) generally available, as is, and is
designed for installation by the purchaser;
or
‘‘(ii) in the public domain or publicly
available because it is generally accessible
to the interested public in any form; or
‘‘(B) any computing device solely because
it incorporates or employs in any form software
(including software with encryption capabilities)
exempted from any requirement for a validated
license under subparagraph (A).
‘‘(3) SOFTWARE WITH ENCRYPTION CAPABILI-
TIES.—The Secretary shall authorize the export or
reexport of software with encryption capabilities for
nonmilitary end-uses in any country to which ex-
ports of software of similar capability are permitted
for use by financial institutions not controlled in fact
by United States persons, unless there is substantial
evidence that such software will be—
‘‘(A) diverted to a military end-use or an
end-use supporting international terrorism;
‘‘(B) modified for military or terrorist end-
use; or
‘‘(C) reexported without requisite United
States authorization.
‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this sub-
section—
‘‘(A) the term ‘generally available’ means,
in the case of software (including software with
encryption capabilities), software that is offered
for sale, license, or transfer to any person with-
out restriction through any commercial means,
including, but not limited to, over-the-counter
retail sales, mail order transactions, phone
order transactions, electronic distribution, or
sale on approval;
‘‘(B) the term ‘as is’ means, in the case of
software (including software with encryption ca-
pabilities), a software program that is not de-
signed, developed, or tailored by the software
company for specific purchasers, except that
such purchasers may supply certain installation
parameters needed by the software program to
function properly with the purchaser’s system
and may customize the software program by
choosing among options contained in the soft-
ware program;
‘‘(C) the term ‘is designed for installation
by the purchaser’ means, in the case of soft-
ware (including software with encryption capa-
bilities)—
‘‘(i) the software company intends for
the purchaser (including any licensee or
transferee), who may not be the actual
program user, to install the software pro-
gram on a computing device and has sup-
plied the necessary instructions to do so,
except that the company may also provide
telephone help line services for software in-
stallation, electronic transmission, or basic
operations; and—
‘‘(ii) that the software program is de-
signed for installation by the purchaser
without further substantial support by the
supplier;
‘‘(D) the term ‘computing device’ means a
device 
which 
incorporates 
one 
or 
more
microprocessor-based central processing units
that can accept, store, process or provide out-
put of data; and
‘‘(E) the term ‘computer hardware’, when
used in conjunction with information security,
includes, but is not limited to, computer sys-
tems, equipment, application-specific assem-
blies, modules, and integrated circuits.’’.
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