U.S. Biological Weapons Export Controls Revised

On Monday, September 12, 2011, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule to amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement a series of changes to biological weapons export controls. The amendments to the EAR are based on a proposal that was discussed at the 2010 Australia Group (AG) Plenary and adopted in November 2010.

According to the Federal Register notice, the rule amends the Commerce Control List (CCL) entry in the EAR that controls human and zoonotic pathogens and ''toxins,'' consistent with the intersessional changes to the AG's ''List of Biological Agents for Export Control.''

To assist exporters to more easily identify the bacteria and ''toxins'' that are controlled under this CCL entry, this rule, among other things, alphabetizes and renumbers the lists of bacteria and ''toxins'' in the entry.

We will be sending additional comments to our clients. Follow this link to download the Federal Register Notice.