22 May 15. The Department of Defense announced a proposal to deploy a planned Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) in Alaska, pending completion of required environmental and safety studies. Current plans call for the radar to begin defensive operations in 2020. The new LRDR will serve as a midcourse sensor to improve target discrimination capability for our Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) to better address potential countermeasures and increase the capacity of the ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) inventory of interceptors in Alaska and California. The Missile Defense Agency is moving forward with the design and development of the radar and assessing U.S. industry proposals to meet the required technical performance to counter the emerging threat and support future BMDS architecture needs. Clear Air Force Station, an Air Force Space Command radar station located in central Alaska, has been tentatively identified as the preferred location for the LRDR. A siting decision will be finalized only after the environmental impact analysis process has been completed.
22 May 15. BIS Revises and Clarifies Russian Sanctions – (80 Fed. Reg. 29530) – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is issuing this final rule to amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to facilitate Internet-based communications with persons in the Crimea region of Ukraine. This final rule allows exports or reexports without a license to the Crimea region of Ukraine of software that is necessary to enable the exchange of personal communications over the Internet, provided that such software is designated EAR99, or is classified as mass market software under Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 5D992.c of the EAR, and provided further that such software is widely available to the public at no cost to the user. This final rule is being published simultaneously with the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issuance of General License No. 9, which authorizes the export or reexport from the United States or by U.S. persons to the Crimea region of Ukraine of certain services and software incident to the exchange of personal communications over the Internet. This action is consistent with the U.S. Government’s policy to promote personal communications between the people in Crimea and the outside world. Lastly, this final rule makes clarifications to the EAR with respect to the addition of the Crimea region of Ukraine provisions in a final rule published on January, 29, 2015, to the EAR. These clarifications are in response to requests that BIS received for guidance on applying these provisions. This rule is effective May 22, 2015. (Source: glstrade.com)
22 May 15. BIS Updates Statements of Legal Authority for the EAR.
– (80 Fed. Reg. 29529) – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has updated the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) legal authority paragraphs in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to cite a Presidential notice extending an emergency declared pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. This is a procedural rule that only updates authority paragraphs of the EAR. It does not alter any right, obligation or prohibition that applies to any person under the EAR. (Source: glstrade.com)
22 May 15. BIS Proposes Change to EAR Destination Control Statement
– (80 Fed. Reg. 29551) – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) proposes to revise the destination control statement in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to harmonize the statement required for the export of items subject to the EAR with the destination control statement in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). This proposed rule is published in conjunction with the publication of a proposed rule by the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) revising the destination con