OREANDA-NEWS. February 12, 2016. The U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Department of Defense continue making strong progress toward implementation of the President’s Export Control Reform Initiative (ECR). Since December 2009, the Administration’s efforts under ECR have overhauled a Cold War-era system of regulations, strengthening U.S. national security while increasing the competitiveness of U.S. industry. Key accomplishments include:

  • The move of less sensitive equipment, parts, and components from the regulatory jurisdiction of the Department of State’s U.S. Munitions List (USML) to the Department of Commerce’s Commerce Control List (CCL), following comprehensive technical and policy reviews conducted by an interagency team of experts representing all relevant U.S. Government departments and agencies. These reforms were also developed in close consultation with Congress and the private sector, which provided extensive public review and comment on the proposed changes.
  • The revision of 18 of 21 categories of the U.S. Munitions List. Fifteen of these categories have been implemented, and the remaining three have been published for public comment. The Department is committed to finalizing the initial review of the entire USML in 2016.
  • A more flexible licensing process under the CCL for the export of less sensitive defense products and services to allies and partners, benefitting U.S. manufacturers.
  • A 56 percent reduction in license volume in the 15 implemented USML categories for the Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, allowing it to enhance efforts to safeguard against illicit attempts to procure sensitive defense technologies.
  • The creation of an ongoing transparent periodic interagency review process to continually improve export control regulations, and to engage with industry and the defense export community to solicit public comment on proposed updates to the USML and CCL.

ECR enhances U.S. national security by streamlining defense transfers to U.S. allies and partners, which helps us work together more effectively to meet shared security challenges. These changes also reduce incentives for purchasers to deliberately avoid U.S.-origin parts and components.

Visit export.gov/ecr/ for more information on the President’s Export Control Reform Initiative. Additional information is available on the Export Control Reform page of the Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls website.