On April 23, 2020, the Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) announced certain measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on U.S. companies and supply chains overseas. Key measures from the announcement are summarized below.

Compliance/Registration

  • Effective for registrations originally expiring between February 29 and June 30, 2020, registrations as a manufacturer, exporter, and/or broker of defense articles are extended for two months from the original date of expiration.
  • DDTC Compliance is now granting an additional 30 days for responses to its request for information letters related to voluntary and directed disclosure matters. Extensions for the submission of full voluntary disclosures continue to be on a case-by-case basis. Extension requests should be sent via email to DTCC-CaseStatus@state.gov on company letterhead in PDF format.

Licensing

  • Any licenses under ITAR Parts 120-130 originally expiring between March 13 and May 31, 2020, are extended for six months from the original date of expiration so long as there is no change to the scope or value of the authorization and no name/address changes are required.
  • A temporary change until July 31, 2020, to the definition of “regular employee” under ITAR § 120.39(a)(2) to include long-term contract workers who work at a remote work location, so long as the individual is not located in Russia or a country listed in ITAR § 126.1. Absent this temporary change, the definition requires that contract workers work at a company facility in order to be considered a “regular employee.”
  • A temporary authorization until July 31, 2020, that allows regular employees of licensed entities who are working remotely in a country not currently authorized by a TAA, MLA or exemption to send, receive or access any technical data authorized for export, reexport or retransfer to their employer via a TAA, MLA or exemption so long as the regular employee is not located in Russia or a country listed in ITAR § 126.1.

Procedures

  • DDTC is implementing new procedures for the provision of final action letters for General Correspondence requests and DSP-85s. These will be sent by email if unclassified.
  • DDTC is re-issuing guidance for the expedited authorization of requests submitted in support of U.S. Operations (USOP) at DTCL SOP – USOPS Guidance.
  • DDTC is now also accepting electronic submissions of disclosures via email at DTCC-CaseStatus@state.gov, as well as FMS Part 130 reports via email at DDTC-Part130Notices@state.gov.