Anthony Rapa, George T. Boggs, Justin A. Chiarodo, and Dimitri DeChurch-Silva ●
As a next step in the U.S. government’s implementation of the trilateral AUKUS security pact with Australia and the United Kingdom (“UK”), the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) recently took measures to further ease export controls among the member countries. Reducing export control restrictions is the linchpin to implementing the AUKUS pact, which aims to bolster security cooperation and defense trade between Australia, the UK, and the United States.
While DDTC stopped short of concretely scaling back export controls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”), it proposed a framework to do so in the coming year (likely to turn on Australia and the UK completing the adoption of ITAR-equivalent export controls and exemptions). Meanwhile, BIS lifted a range of controls under the Export Administration Regulations, placing Australia and the UK on nearly equal footing with Canada.
Read the full client alert on our website.