Commerce forms deemed export advisory committee
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said it’s forming a federal advisory committee dedicated to helping the agency shape policy for “deemed export” controls.
The deemed export rule requires BIS and the State Department’s Office of Defense Trade Controls to determine whether an export license is required to release technological know-how to a foreign national working in the United States.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration and some members of Congress have called for the Commerce Department to strengthen these controls. A 2004 Commerce Department Office of Inspector General’s report said current deemed export rules were weak.
An effort last year by BIS to strengthen the deemed export rules caused an outcry by many large American shippers, industry groups and universities. They argued that severe restrictions on access to knowledgeable foreign nationals would cause research and development programs to suffer.
BIS’s Deemed Export Advisory Committee (DEAC) will comprise up to 12 people from the private sector and academia, who upon appointment by the commerce secretary will service a term of up to one year.
The committee will provide a thorough review of national security, technology, and competitiveness within the deemed export issue and provide recommendations for potential changes to the current policy, BIS noted a Federal Register notice released today.
For more information about the advisory committee, access online: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/E6-7778.htm.