BIS to Publish Final Rule Amending EAR and CCL to Implement Changes Made by 2008 Wassenaar Plenary

On Friday, December 11, 2009, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) will publish a final rule in the Federal Register amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR)  to implement changes made to the Wassenaar Arrangement's List of Dual Use Goods and Technologies (Wassenaar List) agreed upon at the December 2008 Wassenaar Arrangement Plenary Meeting.

While the final rule adds only one new Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) to the Commerce Control List (CCL), ECCN 1A008, changes were made to a number of ECCNs, including ECCNs 1A001, 1A002, 1A003, 1A004, 1A007, 1A008, 1B001, 1B003, 1C008 1C010, 1D003, 1E001, 1E002, 2A983, 3A001, 3A002, 3B001, 4D001, 4D003, 4E001, 5A001, 5B001, 5D001, 5E001, 5A002, 5B002, 5D002, 5E002, 6A001, 6A004, 6A005, 6A006, 6A008, 6A996, 6D003, 6E993, 7A003, 8A001, 8A002 and 9A012.

The final rule also imposes new or expanded National Security (NS) Column 1 controls, NS Column 2 controls and anti-terrorism (AT) controls on certain ECCNs.

The final rule also revises certain definitions in the EAR, by adding the terms: “Bias (accelerometer)” and “Personalized smart card”, removing the term “Noise Level” and adding the terms “Explosives”, “Fusible” and “personal area network.”

The final rule also removes and adds some reporting requirements. 

BIS noted in the final rule that changes made by the Wassenaar Arrangement to ECCNs 6A002 and 6A003 will be implemented in a separate rule, "because of the sensitivity of the items and complexity of procedures and controls for these items."

A copy of the advance version of the final rule can be found here.

Because of the large number of changes to the CCL made by this final rule exporters should carefully review this notice to determine whether any of the export control requirements applicable to their products have changed.