The State Department is proposing to exempt the U.K. and Australia from International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to better bolster the trilateral AUKUS agreement and "foster defense trade and cooperation between and among the United States and two of its closest allies."
“To achieve this, the Department proposes to amend the ITAR to include an exemption to the requirement to obtain a license or other approval from the Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) prior to any export, reexport, retransfer or temporary import of defense articles; the performance of defense services; or engagement in brokering activities between or among authorized users within Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States,” the proposed rule states.
The department also proposes to add a list of defense articles and services “excluded from eligibility for transfer under the proposed new exemption.”
Additionally, State would “add to the scope of the exemption” to allow for the intracompany or intraorganizational transfer of classified materials to “certain dual nationals who are authorized users or regular employees of an authorized user within the United Kingdom and Australia; and revise the section on expediting license review applications by referencing new processes for Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada.”
A public comment period begins today and ends May 31.
The proposal was heralded in a statement by Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO Eric Fanning.
“These proposed regulations are the U.S. government’s most important next step to unleash the full potential of AUKUS,” he said. “The future of this partnership hinges on getting this right -- and that means making trade and technology transfer easier than it is now.”
Fanning said AIA looks forward to working with the government to “address the excluded technologies list and the territorial restrictions.”
“We also must address the challenge of integrating non-AUKUS supply chain companies into AUKUS,” he said. “AUKUS is enabled by a global supply chain, and we must account for that global supply chain for AUKUS to achieve its maximum potential.”