Following on restrictions announced last year for military end users and end use, BIS has published a final rule, effective March 16, 2021, imposing additional licensing requirements for export/reexport of all items, including EAR99, for military-intelligence end use or to military-intelligence end-users” in China, Russia and Venezuela, or a country listed in Country Groups E:1 or E:2 (currently, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria).   The licensing review policy for these licenses is a presumption of denial.

Military-intelligence end users are defined as “any intelligence or reconnaissance organization of the armed services (army, navy, marine, air force, or coast guard); or national guard.

End users subject to the license requirement include, but are not limited to:

 (i) Cuba. Directorate of Military Intelligence (DIM) and Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (CIM).

(ii) China, People’s Republic of. Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department.

(iii) Iran. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization (IRGC-IO) and Artesh Directorate for Intelligence (J2).

(iv) Korea, North. Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB).

(v) Russia. Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).

(vi) Syria. Military Intelligence Service.

(vii) Venezuela. General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM).

Military-intelligence end use is defined as “the design, “development,” “production,” use, operation, installation (including on-site installation), maintenance (checking), repair, overhaul, or refurbishing of, or incorporation into, items described on the U.S. Munitions List (USML) (22 CFR part 121, International Traffic in Arms Regulations), or classified under ECCNs ending in “A018” or under “600 series” ECCNs, which are intended to support the actions or functions of a ‘military-intelligence end user’.

While previous military end use/end user regulation changes placed licensing requirements on specific classifications within the EAR; these military-intelligence end use/end user restrictions cover all items, including EAR99. The changes to export regulations relating to China, Russia and Venezuela places additional importance on obtaining an End-Use/End User Statement for all U.S. exports, including EAR99 items.  U.S. Export Policies & Procedures should be revised to reflect these new restrictions.

Please see §744.22 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=1&SID=9ae4a21068f2bd41d4a5aee843b63ef1&ty=HTML&h=L&n=15y2.1.3.4.28&r=PART#se15.2.744_122 for further details and contact our office if you have any questions.