US BIS EAR Wassenaar Arrangement 2018 Plenary Decisions Implementation — CCL multilateral harmonization (FR Doc 2020-16286)

Mechanism

The Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) is a multilateral export-control regime with 42 participating states that maintains a List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies and a Munitions List. At each annual Plenary meeting, participating states agree on additions and amendments to the controlled list; each state then implements those changes into its domestic export-control law. This rule represents BIS's domestic implementation of the non-emerging-technology decisions from the December 2018 WA Plenary.

Key changes by category:

Category 1 (Materials): ECCN 1C001 (piezoelectric materials) revised.

Category 2 (Materials Processing): ECCNs 2A001 (bearings), 2B003 (machine tools precision controls), and 2B006 (dimensional inspection equipment) revised to align with the 2018 WA List.

Category 3 (Electronics / Semiconductors): ECCNs 3A001 (advanced ICs), 3A002 (electronic test/measurement), 3B001 (semiconductor manufacturing equipment), and 3E003 (technology for semiconductor items) revised. Notably, the 3A001 revision initially introduced an error in memory-technology terminology (EEPROMs, flash, MRAMs → "non-volatile memories") that was subsequently corrected in the December 4, 2020 correcting amendment (FR Doc 2020-26648).

Category 5 (Telecoms / Information Security): ECCNs 5A002 (information-security systems), 5D002 (information-security software), 5E001 (telecoms technology), 5E002 (information-security technology), and 5E992 (lower-level IS items) revised.

Category 6 (Sensors and Lasers): ECCNs 6A003 (cameras and imaging systems), 6A005 (lasers), and new ECCN 6B002 (masks and reticles for optical sensors) added. The 6B002 addition addresses a gap in WA coverage for photomask tools used in producing optically controlled sensor arrays.

Category 7 (Navigation and Avionics): ECCNs 7A002 (gyros and accelerometers), 7A003 (inertial navigation systems), 7A005 (GNSS receiving equipment), 7D003 (navigation software), and 7D005 (safety-critical avionic software) revised.

Category 8 (Marine): ECCNs 8A001 (submersibles and marine vessels), 8A002 (marine systems), and 8B001 (marine test equipment) revised, along with certain License Exception revisions for 8D001 and 8E001.

Category 9 (Aerospace and Propulsion): ECCNs 9A010 (turbine engine test equipment), 9A610 (controlled aircraft), 9B001 (aircraft engine test equipment), and 9E003 (development technology for aircraft engines) revised.

Downstream implications

• This rule functions as the parent statute for the December 4, 2020 correcting amendment

(2020-12-04-us-bis-ear-wassenaar-2018-correction), which corrected errors in 3A001, 3A002, 3A991, 5A002, 7A005, and 9E003 introduced by this rule.

• Exporters of dual-use semiconductors, lasers, optical sensors, avionics, and marine equipment

needed to re-classify items under revised ECCNs from the effective date (September 11, 2020).

• Approximately 200 annual licence applications were estimated to be alleviated by clarifications

in the protective-equipment categories.

• The May 2019 companion rule (84 FR 23886) had already implemented the five emerging-technology

decisions from 2018 Plenary; this September 2020 rule closes out the remaining non-emerging decisions, completing the 2018 Plenary implementation cycle.

Open questions

• The 2019 WA Plenary implementation was subsequently covered by a separate rule

(2021-03-29-us-bis-wassenaar-2019-plenary-ear-ccl-update); the 2020 WA Plenary cycle was expected to follow the same two-phase approach.

• Certain Category 4 (computers) items were explicitly excluded from this rule; BIS indicated

those would be addressed separately.