The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls this week temporarily suspended export license requirements for certain capacitors on the U.S. Munitions List. The suspension, valid for six months from Nov. 21, could allow DDTC to better “facilitate” commercial transactions involving the capacitors, including for the energy exploration and aviation sectors.

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The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security will hold a webinar Dec. 8 to discuss information technology modernization updates. The webinar will include an overview of recent updates to DDTC’s Defense Export Control and Compliance System, BIS’s “IT Modernization roadmap” and the two agencies’ “collaboration efforts on data sharing and customer experience opportunities.”

The State Department again extended a September 2020 rule that temporarily suspended restrictions on certain defense exports to Cyprus, the agency said Nov. 21. The 2020 rule (see 2009020045) amended the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to relax restrictions surrounding exports of nonlethal defense goods and services to Cyprus, and also eased restrictions on reexports, retransfers and temporary imports. The agency extended the rule in 2021 before deciding to extend it again this year (see 2209190009). The extended rule, effective Nov. 22, will now last through Sept. 30, 2023.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week published a final rule that made various corrections to its regulations, including the restoration of a general export license that it had “incorrectly” removed in 2010. The general license allows exports of uranium from the U.S. “enriched to less than 20 percent in U-235, in the form of UF6 heels in cylinders being returned to suppliers” in member countries of the European Atomic Energy Community or the U.K., DLA Piper said in a client alert. The law firm noted that other forms of uranium materials and related technology are controlled by the Commerce Department’s Export Administration Regulations or the State Department’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The NRC’s rule takes effect Dec 14.

The State Department sent a final rule for interagency review Nov. 15 to further reorganize the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule would reorganize ITAR part 120 to consolidate all definitions into one part and “organize the definitions in a manner that enhances their clarity and ease of use,” the agency said. The agency's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls in March issued the first in a series of rules expected to reorganize the ITAR (see 2203220013).

Three U.S. citizens and Quadrant Magnetics were charged with wire fraud, violating the Arms Export Control Act and smuggling goods relating to their participation in an illegal scheme to ship export-controlled defense-related technical data to China, DOJ announced. They also allegedly supplied DOD with Chinese-origin rare earth magnets for aviation systems and military items, DOJ said.

The State Department plans to soon issue new export compliance guidance and has made progress updating its Part 130 process, senior agency official Mike Miller said. Miller, speaking during the Defense Trade Advisory Group plenary last week, also said the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is working more closely with the Commerce Department on end-use checks, and said the agency has seen an uptick in violations involving illegal exports of technical data.

The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said Nov. 7 it was running into a “delay generating customer service cases from the DDTCCustomerService@state.gov email” and Defense Export Control and Compliance System tickets. DDTC said it has since resolved the problem. Questions can be directed to the Help Desk at 202-663-2838 and the Response Team at 202-663-1282.

The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls recently posted a name change update for the U.K. government and waived the requirement for amendments to change approved license authorizations because of the “volume” of authorizations requiring amendments to reflect the change, DDTC said. The U.K. government's entity name “Her Majesty the Queen” was changed to “His Majesty the King.” Currently approved authorizations identifying “Her Majesty the Queen” will not require an amendment to reflect the change, DDTC said, but new authorizations should be updated.