The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) recently published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPRM”) regarding the identification and review of controls for certain “foundational technologies.” This ANPRM represents another step toward implementation of the “emerging and foundational technology” provisions set forth in the Export Control Reform Act (“ECRA”) of 2018, which has been slow to get off the ground. Section 1758 of the ECRA requires that “foundational technologies” be identified and that BIS establish appropriate controls for that technology under the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”).

The ANPRM solicits public comments concerning the definition of and criteria for identifying “foundational technologies” in order to apply controls to “emerging technologies” and “foundational technologies” which are essential to U.S. national security, pursuant to the ECRA. Specifically, BIS is asking interested parties to submit comments by October 26, 2020 responding to the following topics:

(1) How to further define foundational technology to assist in identification of such items;

(2) sources to identify such items;

(3) criteria to determine whether controlled items identified in AT level Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs), in whole or in part, or covered by EAR99 categories, for which a license is not required to countries subject to a U.S. arms embargo, are essential to U.S. national security;

(4) the status of development of foundational technologies in the United States and other countries;

(5) the impact specific foundational technology controls may have on the development of such technologies in the U.S.;

(6) examples of implementing controls based on end-use and/or end-user rather than, or in addition to, technology based controls;

(7) any enabling technologies, including tooling, testing, and certification equipment, that should be included within the scope of a foundational technology; and

(8) any other approaches to the issue of identifying foundational technologies important to U.S. national security, including the stage of development or maturity level of a foundational technology that would warrant consideration for export control.

BIS explained that it does not seek to expand jurisdiction over technologies that are not already subject to the EAR. BIS, through an interagency process, seeks to determine whether there are specific foundational technologies which warrant more restrictive controls. Interested parties may submit comments through the federal rulemaking portal (regulations.gov) or via mail to BIS.