The Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Defense Trade Controls made clear last week that the State Department’s Directorate for Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), which is responsible for the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), is exempt from President Trump’s Executive Order limiting new regulations.

At a public meeting of the Defense Trade Advisory Group, the Deputy Assistant Secretary made clear that the Executive Order would not apply to rulemakings for defense services, technical data, public domain and fundamental research, registration and licensing requirements for U.S. Persons operating abroad, or to the 126.4 exemption for temporary exports and imports of defense articles by and for U.S. government agencies.

In addition, DDTC will continue to initiate notices of public inquiry on changes to the U.S. Munitions List made pursuant to Export Control Reform (ECR). These notices solicit comments on the regulations from the public.  To date ECR has resulted in new rules for every USML category except Categories I, II, and III which includes firearms.

For an analysis of the last big set of definitional changes made pursuant to ECR’s effort to align DDTC definitions with those used by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), click here.