Revisions to the United States Munitions List

As part of the President's export control reform initiative, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) seeks public comment on revisions to the United States Munitions List (USML) that would make it a "positive list" of controlled defense articles, requests that the public "tier" defense articles based on the Administration's three-tier control criteria, and identify those current defense articles that the public believes do not fall within the scope of any of the criteria's tiers. A "positive list" is a list that describes controlled items using objective criteria rather than broad, open- ended, subjective, or design intent-based criteria. DDTC is not seeking with this advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) input on whether particular defense articles should or should not be controlled on the USML or whether any defense articles should be controlled differently. Rather, it is only seeking with this ANPRM input on how the USML can be revised so that it clearly describes what is subject to the jurisdiction of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), how defense articles are identified by tier, and what current defense articles do not fall within the scope of any of the tiers. Guidelines for revision of the USML toward this end are provided in this ANPRM. Please see the proposed rule published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register for an example of a USML Category that has been revised in this manner.