To be upfront, I am not a lawyer, w the DoS, or a corporate “empowered official”; I am someone who works with ITAR frequently to ensure my company (and individual employees) don’t get fined, hit with a consent decree, or sent to jail.
“ITAR” regulates the export of defense items and defense services by U.S. entities.
The Department of State’s ITAR regulations don’t directly ban the sale of American arms related products - it does require a manufacturer or “broker” to get approval from the DoS prior to export in the form of a license, a technical assistance agreement (think of intellectual property on a defense item), or an exemption. Just to register with DoS is some 1500$ per year, then add legal costs a company incurs figuring out what paperwork needs to be done and submitting it. A license or a TAA can take upwards of a year to get - and that’s fairly limited what and where you can export in many cases. If you screw up, both a company and the individual employees can be heavily fined. Google “Raytheon ITAR consent decree” for an ugly case. Motivation enough for many companies to avoid the headache.
My observations on these changes to ITAR.
1. Interpretation of the regulation and ITAR compliance is in the eyes of the Department of State which can be inconsistent and change with administrations. The corporation I work for chooses a better safe than sorry approach to ITAR even though it costs them money to get a license, TAA, or exemption in cases where it sure seems to me that ITAR no longer applies (due to a different change last January).
2. Just because something isn’t covered by Department of State’s ITAR regulations, it may still be regulated under the Department of Commerce EAC.
3. My abbreviated, non-lawyer reading of your link would suggest that common parts for something like a CZ 75 would no longer be covered under ITAR. (See also #1 above!) However, the tritium in night sights could very well be interpreted to fall under a “nuclear environment “(One of the later sections of the regs). That an item or defense service could be interpreted by DoS to fall under multiple sections can be a very real danger. Parts for an MSR like the Bren or Scorpion might still be considered ITAR either by this administration or the next IMHO.
I usually hate bureaucracy, and ITAR is a major PitB... but, holy crap has DoS got a challenge in writing regulations that doesn’t allow for the unregulated sale of some key defense technologies, or stuff that is just plain nasty (toxins anyone? How about solid missile propellant? AI technologies?) while not destroying the industries necessary for our Nation’s defense. If anyone thinks our enemies (and some friends) aren’t actively trying to buy some of this stuff from witting (I.e. a traitor) or unwitting American citizens or corporations, please reconsider.
Hope this gives some insight into the situation, though I admit to not actually answering your questions.
V.R.
ABE
