Responsibility for sensitive technology does not end with the physical device. In a final rule published October 12, 2016, Commerce expanded controls on certain software and technology associated with dual-use infrared detection items. This October 16 retrospective considers a development from the prior week, not a Sunday announcement. The change deserves attention alongside the more visible transfer of equipment between control lists. [2016-24220]

Commerce also removes some license exceptions, revises licensing policy and expands license requirements for certain transactions involving military end users or foreign military commodities. Those qualifications matter: the rule does not say that every infrared product becomes more restricted, nor that all transferred optics become freely tradable. Responsible explanation must preserve the difference between a defined transaction rule and a blanket judgment about a technology. [2016-24220]

State's complementary rule narrows and clarifies Category XII of the U.S. Munitions List for fire-control, laser, imaging and guidance equipment. Specified items move to Commerce controls; items warranting the retained State controls remain described there. State emphasizes that both regulatory systems impose export and reexport license requirements. Both final rules take effect December 31, 2016, rather than immediately upon their publication. [2016-24220][2016-24225]

Our ethical reading is that practical responsibility requires attention to the item, the associated knowledge and the transaction, not merely the agency name on a classification. That is an editorial inference from the rules' differing provisions, not a claim about any company's conduct. The Commerce and State documents belong to one reform effort and supply complementary explanations. They do not independently establish that the new arrangements have prevented harm or achieved the administration's security objectives. [2016-24220][2016-24225]

Source documents

  1. Revisions to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR): Control of Fire Control, Laser, Imaging, and Guidance Equipment the President Determines No Longer Warrant Control Under the United States Munitions List (USML)https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-10-12/html/2016-24220.htm
  2. Amendment to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations: Revision of U.S. Munitions List Category XIIhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-10-12/html/2016-24225.htm