More Countries Subjected to Chemical and Biological Weapon Catch-All Rules
March 2005
The last in a Herculean series of March rulemaking efforts by BIS came on the second to last day of the month - an expansion of the scope of chemical and biological weapons (CBW) end-user and end-use controls to cover every country in the world.
These CBW prohibitions are one flavor of the catch-all controls encompassed within the EAR. Even when an item would not ordinarily require an export license to be shipped to a particular destination, the exporter is obliged to seek a license from BIS if he knows that the item will be used in the design, development, production, stockpiling, or use of CBW.
Similar end-use and end-user restrictions are in place on nuclear, rocket, UAV, and maritime nuclear propulsion activities (see EAR Part 744).
The March 30 regulation widens the scope of these controls by eliminating the exemption to them for members of the Australia Group (AG), the informal international arrangement that seeks to limit the proliferation of CBW-related materials and technology. Now US exporters will need to scrutinize orders from AG countries such as the Belgium, South Korea, and Sweden for CBW end-users and end-use with the same due diligence they have long been required to exercise when it came to the rest of the world.
