3 Takeaways from Recent U.S. Regulatory Actions Implementing AUKUS

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.

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Proposed Bill Would Amend the Arms Export Control Act and Establish AUKUS Advisor and Task Force: 3 Highlights

Anthony Rapa and Patrick F. Collins 

On July 19, 2023, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chair of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a bill to ease trade restrictions among parties to the AUKUS agreement—a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. House Republicans separately have proposed granting the UK and Australia blanket exemptions from requirements under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”), while a proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Action for Fiscal Year 2024 from Senate Democrats stops short of blanket exemptions. The McCaul bill offers a compromise—it amends the Arms Export Control Act (“AECA”) to allow the President to exempt select exports of defense items from licensing requirements for countries that meet certain conditions, and requires the U.S. State Department to appoint a senior AUKUS advisor and establish an AUKUS task force.

Background

The AUKUS agreement, initially announced in September 2021, aims to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines and deepen cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region with the United States and UK. A White House fact sheet highlights the agreement’s other goals, including cooperation on cyber capabilities, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities, electronic warfare, and undersea capabilities.

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