On April 23, 2020, the US State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”) announced certain measures intended to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and key measures are summarized below:
Compliance/Registration
- DDTC has extended the ITAR registrations expiring on February 29, March 31, April 30, May 31, and June 30, 2020 for two months from the original expiration date. Effective as of March 13, 2020, this measure implements a temporary suspension of the requirement in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) to renew registration as a manufacturer, exporter, and/or broker and pay a fee on an annual basis.
- DDTC has granted an additional 30 days for responses to its request-for-information letters related to voluntary and directed disclosure matters. DDTC is also considering extensions for the submission of full voluntary disclosures on a case-by-case basis. Extension requests should be sent via email to DTCC-CaseStatus@state.gov on company letterhead in PDF format. On a related note, DDTC on March 19, 2020 announced that disclosures and/or related information are encouraged to be sent via email to DTCC-CaseStatus@state.gov.
Licensing
- Effective as of March 13, 2020, DDTC has extended the duration of ITAR licenses that expire between March 13, 2020 and May 31, 2020 for six months from the original expiration date, so long as there is no change to the scope or value of the authorization and no name/address changes are required.
- DDTC has suspended the requirement that a regular employee with a longer-term contractual relationship (i.e., a regular employee for purposes of ITAR § 120.39(a)(2)) must work at the company’s facilities, so long as the regular employee is not located in Russia or a country listed in ITAR § 126.1. The suspension is effective from March 13, 2020 to July 31, 2020, unless otherwise extended in writing.
- For a regular employee of an entity that has authorization under a Technical Assistance Agreement (“TAA”), Manufacturing License Agreement (“MLA”), or exemption, who is working remotely in a country not currently authorized by the TAA, MLA, or exemption, DDTC has authorized the regular employee to send, receive, or access any technical data authorized for export, reexport, or retransfer to its 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. This authorization is effective from March 13, 2020 to July 31, 2020, unless otherwise extended in writing.
Management
- DDTC has added additional points of contact on the Key Personnel tab of the About DDTC page and additional staffing and IT resources to its Response Team and Help Desk functions.
Authors acknowledge the assistance of Iris Zhang in the preparation of this blog post.
