Open Meeting Minutes of 6/12/01 RPTAC

Jim Wyatt - Greeting and opening remarks. Introductions around the room.

Hillary Hess - Regulatory Update

Published rules:

5/14/01 - Addition of 12 PRC entities to the Entity List; modification of three Russian entity listings; and correction to an Israeli entity listing.

4/09/01 - Wassenaar changes: increased control levels for microprocessors, graphic accelerators, and external interconnects.

4/09/01 - Addition of Brazil, Latvia, and Ukraine to Nuclear Suppliers Group; addition of Austria, Finland, Ireland, and Sweden to list of countries not subject to certain nuclear end-use restrictions.

3/01/01 - Removal of Serbia controls imposed in May 1999; Kosovo no longer considered a separate destination for purposes of the EAR.

Pending rules:

Australia Group - changes from Oct. 2000 plenary regarding kits, mixtures; adds Cyprus and Turkey. (Interagency)

Nuclear Suppliers Group Changes - reformatting; adds Belarus, Cyprus, Slovenia, and Turkey. (Drafting)

Missile Technology Control Regime - Oct. 1999 changes and subsequent reformatting; adds Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, South Korea, and Turkey. (Interagency)

Wassenaar Arrangement-

Computers - raises CTP in 4A003 to 28,000 Mtops. (Interagency)

Categories 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9 - mostly updating (easing) but does expand 2B001 to catch fly cutting machine tools. (Interagency)

Liberia/Taliban - Implements U.N. arms embargoes. (Interagency)

Encryption - Wassenaar changes; streamlining. (Drafting)

Trade Sanctions Reform Act (TSRA)/License Exception AGR - Exports of agricultural commodities to Cuba. (Interagency)

De Minimis - incorporation of U.S. software into foreign-made hardware. (OMB)

Mandatory Electronic Submission - SNAP/ELAIN for license application submission. (Drafting)

Work Groups: Status & Discussion

E-Commerce: Anne-Marie Banner

Group held a conference call to define E-Commerce - what it means vis-a-vis export controls. Focus on electronic delivery - screening requirements, reasonable care, interaction with EPCI.

End-User Controls: Kathleen Blackall

Compare and contrast other countries= end-user controls to ours. (Question from Dick Seppa on Aold initiatives@ e.g., EPCI Apositive list@ - what happened to these? EPCI 10 years old - has it accomplished its objectives?) Recommended inviting people from other countries to RPTAC to discuss what they do.

Technology Controls: Jim Wyatt

RPTAC letter to U/S Ken Juster - proposal for License Exception NDA for technology transfer - similar to ENC, applied more broadly to technology. How do other countries do it - interaction with privacy laws and blocking statutes. Industry needs to argue why easing won=t harm national security in addition to arguing cost burden - for instance, not hiring the right people creates loss to national security by hampering commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) acquisitions.

Deemed Export License (DEL): Sandee Vincent and Kathleen Gebeau

Letter submitted by RPTAC on process. Still problems:

Typewriter and ribbon

No electronic tracking

30-day clock notice by mail

Difficult to get status

Notice after 30 days of problem/hold.

(Opportunity for public comment offered.)

Brian Nilsson - Encryption

Thanked RPTAC for their letter. Consulting with Bill Root and PECSENC on streamlining.

Updates:

- Licensing load has dropped since January 2000: 190/month to 20/month

- Technical reviews still coming in 25/week (no drop)

- Retail percentage now about 85%

Have asked NSA to evaluate usefulness of reports. First whole interagency meeting next week. Currently out of step with Wassenaar Arrangement - cumbersome nature of regs to be cleaned up. Comment by Roz Thomsen that determination of de minimis not going well.

TSRA - FDA definition of medical devices. Notification process, classifications for EAR99 items.

Practices and Procedures: Catherine Thornberry

Comments on new export clearance rules, software valuation, Special Comprehensive License.

Susan Daniel - USXports

(Also ECASS program manager -redesign.) Redesign of SNAP and ESD project: prototype tested with 5 exporters - recommended against rolling it out. SNAP redesign to roll out at same time - SCL, DEL added - ESD trial by Update; then should be able to sign people up by Update West for March rollout. Pressure to use public key infrastructure (PKI) but will still use SSL. ECASS redesign in next year or two.

CCL: Bill Root

Recommendation #3 from Inspector General - working group on CCL. People outside the committee on work groups.

Multilateral Controls: Dick Seppa

Monitor/influence regimes, other country practices - discrepancies. Wassenaar involvement, but not much with nonproliferation regimes. Cross-cutting, broader policy issues across regimes. Differences in national implementation - licensing practices, catch all, technology controls, and countries of concern. Militarily Critical Technologies List - how does that fit in?

Open Session adjourned.