House Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on Export Controls on Satellite Technology

Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affair's Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Brad Sherman (D-CA) has announced that the subcommittee will hold a hearing next week on U.S. export controls on satellite technology.

The hearing, which will be held at 1 p.m. on April 2, 2009 in the room 2175 of the Rayburn House Office Building, will feature the following witnesses:

• Larry M. Wortzel, Ph.D., Vice Chairman, U.S. – China Economic and Security Review Commission

• Pierre Chao, Senior Associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies

• Patricia Cooper, President, Satellite Industry Association

Concerns over U.S. export controls on commercial satellites have intensified after Eutelsat Communications SA, a France-based global satellite operator, recently announced that it intends to use a Chinese Long March rocket in 2010 to launch an "ITAR-free" communications satellite.

In March 1999, export controls on commercial communications satellites were transferred from the jurisdiction of the Export Administration Regulations to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) after Congress passed the Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999.