Comment period extended for emerging tech review

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said it received numerous requests to put off the deadline for a month.    The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security will extend by a month the public comment period for a Nov. 19 advance notice of proposed rulemaking to review emerging U.S.-made technologies with a national security risk.
   “Since publication, BIS has received requests for additional time to submit comments,” the agency said in a Federal Register notice on Friday. “In response to those requests, BIS is extending the public comment period until January 10, 2019.”
   Through both the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act and 2018 Export Control Reform Act, Congress authorized Commerce to establish appropriate controls on the export, re-export or transfer (in country) of emerging and so-called “foundational” technologies. 
   Specifically, the agency is most interested in those new technologies that have potential to fuel foreign weapons manufacturing, intelligence gathering and terrorist activities to the detriment of the U.S. These new technologies may not currently be listed on the Commerce Control List (CCL), which requires specific licensing oversight before being exported abroad.
   BIS said these potentially national security-sensitive technologies will be determined by an interagency process that will consider both public and classified information, as well as information from the Emerging Technology Technical Advisory Committee and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. The interagency process is expected to result in proposed rules for new Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) on the CCL.
   The agency’s Nov. 19 advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, “Review of Controls for Certain Emerging Technologies,” may be viewed here.