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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY
Thursday, August 21, 2008	Office of Public Affairs
www.bis.doc.gov	202-482-2721

BIS publishes rule for expanding entity list
New rule ensures dual-use export policies support the
President’s National Security agenda

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a new rule today in the Federal Register that expands the grounds for placing a party on the Entity List. First proposed in June 2007, the final rule is based on the input received from export control stakeholders.

“Consistent with the President’s National Security Strategy, the updated Entity List rule allows BIS to better adapt to the changing security environment of the 21st Century,” said Commerce Under Secretary Mario Mancuso. “By establishing targeted export license requirements that focus on certain foreign end-users, we can more reliably deny access to controlled technology to those who threaten the security of the United States, while facilitating trade with legitimate overseas commercial customers.”

Under the new rule, a party could be placed on the Entity List if there is reasonable cause to believe that the entity has been involved, is involved, or poses a significant risk of becoming involved in activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. Those acting on behalf of such entities may also be added to the Entity List.

This rule helps:

Tailor U.S. government license requirements
Improve the ability of exporters to screen potential recipients of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR)
Simplify the EAR by reducing the need to issue general orders that impose license requirements on specific parties
Reduce the number of EAR provisions that the public would be required to review to determine license requirements under the EAR

Background
The BIS Entity List contains parties whose participation in a transaction can trigger a license requirement under the EAR. The list specifies the license requirements that apply to each listed entity. These license requirements are in addition to any license requirements imposed on the transaction by other provisions of the EAR.

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