Source: http://thefederalregister.com/2009/12/04/E9-28982.html
Timestamp: 2019-06-25 02:35:02
Document Index: 91087091

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 740', '§ 740', '§ 748', '§ 748', '§ 750', '§ 750', '§ 750', '§ 750', '§ 762', '§ 762', '§ 762', 'arts 740', '§ 740', '§ 748', '§ 750']

Federal Register | Issuance of Electronic Document and Related Recordkeeping Req
15 CFR Parts 740, 748, 750 and 762
[Docket No. 0907201151-91153-01]
RIN 0694-AE66
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is proposing to eliminate the use of most paper documents that it sends to parties having business before the agency. The documents that would be affected by this proposed rule are: Export and reexport licenses, notices of denial of license applications, notices of return of a license application without action, classification results, License Exception AGR notification results and encryption review request results. This proposed rule would modify the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement those changes. This proposed rule also would make changes to the recordkeeping requirements associated with the elimination of paper documents. BIS is proposing to make these changes to reduce mailing costs and to free up staff time currently devoted to mailing these documents for use in other tasks.
DATES: Comments must be received by BIS no later than February 2, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Andrukonis, Office of Exporter Services, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce at 202 482 6393 or e-mailtandrukoi@bis.doc.gov.
Specific Proposed Changes Clarification that Electronic Notification in SNAP-R is Considered, for Purposes of the EAR, Written Notification of the Results of a License Exception AGR Request
This proposed rule would revise § 740.18(c)(5) to state that BIS will issue confirmation in SNAP-R or by other written notification of the decision that no agency has objected to a party's proposed use of License Exception AGR. Currently, that section merely states that BIS will issue written confirmation.
This proposed rule would remove the requirement currently found in § 748.7(c) that companies maintain a log of electronic submissions. The requirement was established in connection with BIS' initial electronic application process, which was instituted in the 1980s. At that time, electronic submissions were facilitated by a number of private sector vendors and the logs may have been necessary for auditing purposes. However, currently, the information required to be kept in the log duplicates information that parties are required to include in their SNAP-R submissions or that is automatically recorded by SNAP-R. BIS is proposing to discontinue the log keeping requirement because it is redundant of information available to BIS in SNAP-R. The proposed rule would accomplish this change by removing paragraph (c) of § 748.7 andredesignating existing paragraph (d) as paragraph (c).
The proposed rule would revise § 750.7(b) to state merely that BIS may issue export and reexport licenses either electronically or on paper and that each license will bear a license number. Existing language regarding “computer generated” licenses, the Department of Commerce seal and attachments to licenses would be removed as would an explicit requirement that exporters use the license number when communicating with BIS about the license. The proposed language would allow BIS to exercise discretion in deciding whether to issue a license electronically in SNAP-R or on paper. However, BIS expects that it will issue nearly all licenses electronically. Unless some exceptional circumstances exist, only licenses for which the applicant was authorized to file on paper and licenses that BIS cannot issue electronically (currently, only reopened licenses) will be issued on paper. BIS is proposing this change to reduce the costs of generating and mailing paper copies of licenses and to be able to assign to other tasks staff currently assigned to handling paper licenses. Because no EAR provision currently addresses issuance of the other license related documents with the specificity that § 750.7(b) addresses licenses, only § 750.7(b) need be modified to implement this change. However, BIS's intent is to issue only the electronic version of all license related documents unless BIS authorized paper submission of the original application, notice or request, or BIS cannot issue an electronic version of the applicable license related documents.
This proposed rule would revise § 750.7(h)(4) to remove a requirement that the license holder attach a replacement license issued by BIS to the original license that it replaces. That requirement dates to an era in which electronic licenses did not exist and is impractical with electronic licenses issued in SNAP-R. The proposed rule would retain the requirement that the license holder keep both the original license and the replacement license.
This proposed rule would add the following documents to the list of documents required to be kept found in § 762.2(a)(10): Notification from BIS that an application is being returned without action; Notification from BIS that an application is being denied; Notification from BIS of the results of a commodity classification or encryption review request conducted by BIS. BIS believes that requiring recipients of these documents to retain them is needed to confirm receipt and to verify that the recipient received notice of the terms of the document. BIS is not proposing to require parties to retain requests for additional information concerning active matters that they receive from BIS.
This proposed rule would state that parties who receive documents issued by BIS in SNAP-R may store the documents in one of two ways and that either way would meet the requirement of § 762.5 that original documents be retained. The two methods are: Storage of complete documents issued by BIS in SNAP-R electronically in a format readable by software possessed by the recipient party; or printing out and storing a complete paper copy of the document. BIS believes that either method that would be authorized by the proposed changes to § 762.5 would provide an accurate representation of the contents of the record and, therefore, either method should be treated as the equivalent of an original document.
2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person is required to respond to, nor is subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a collection of information, subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501et seq.) (PRA), unless that collection of information displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Control Number. This regulation contains a collection previously approved by OMB under control number 0694-0096.
During the period from January 1, 2009 through May 31, 2009, BISreceived 11,580 submissions via SNAP-R and 36 submissions via the paper application forms. Under existing procedures BIS would send the final results for the 11,580 SNAP-R submissions to the submitting party both electronically in SNAP-R and on paper. Under this proposed rule, BIS would send those final results via SNAP-R only. Final responses in the 36 instances in which BIS accepted a paper submission would continue to receive paper responses under this proposed rule. In addition, during the period from January 1, 2009 through May 31, 2009, BIS reopened 246 matters relating to submissions affected by this rule that previously had been considered to be closed. BIS would continue to issue the documents announcing the decision in these reopened matters on paper because the SNAP-R system currently is incapable of issuing such documents.
List of Subjects 15 CFR Parts 740, 748 and 750
§ 740.18 Agricultural commodities.
50 U.S.C. app. 2401et seq.;50 U.S.C. 1701et seq.;E.O. 13026, 61 FR 58767, 3 CFR, 1996 Comp., p. 228; E.O. 13222, 66 FR 44025, 3 CFR, 2001 Comp., p. 783; Notice of August 13, 2009, 74 FR 41325 (August 14, 2009).
§ 748.7 [Amended]
50 U.S.C. app. 2401et seq.;50 U.S.C. 1701et seq.;Sec. 1503, Pub. L. 108-11, 117 Stat. 559; E.O. 13026, 61 FR 58767, 3 CFR, 1996 Comp., p. 228; E.O. 13222, 66 FR 44025, 3 CFR, 2001 Comp., p. 783; Presidential Determination 2003-23 of May 7, 2003, 68 FR 26459, May 16, 2003; Notice of August 13, 2009, 74 FR 41325 (August 14, 2009).
§ 750.7 Issuance of licenses
(b)Issuance of a license.BIS may issue a license electronically via its Simplified Network Application Processing (SNAP-R) system or via paper or both electronically and via paper. Each license has a license number that will be shown on the license.
(4)Replacement license.If you have been issued a “replacement license” (for changes to your original license not covered in paragraph (c) of this section), you must retain both the original and the replacement license.
(10) Notification from BIS of an application being returned without action; Notification by BIS of an application being denied; Notification by BIS of the results of a commodityclassification or encryption review request conducted by BIS; and,
Dated: November 30, 2009. Matthew S. Borman, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Export Administration.