Headquarters of the United States Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. Photo: APK, Creative Commons license

The U.S. government recently released four rulemakings on space export control designed to strengthen private sector space activity and improve international collaboration. The Department of Commerce and Department of State released four space export control rulemakings on Oct. 17. The Departments are seeking comments on three of the four rules and comments are due on Nov. 22. 

These are the first significant changes in space export controls in more than a decade, Chirag Parikh, deputy assistant to the president and executive secretary of the National Space Council, said in a Nov. 6 meeting hosted by the Department of Commerce to discuss the rulemakings. 

Parikh said reforming export controls for the space industry has been sought after by both industry and government, and these reforms come from joint effort from the National Space Council, Departments of Commerce and State, and industry input. 

The goal was to come up with “reasonable, rationally-based export controls that are based upon facts, reflect the state of the world, and support our connection to allies and partners,” Parikh said. 

Speaking the day after former President Trump won the U.S. election, Parikh said he believes these changes are sought out regardless of political party. 

“We got it out in a period of time where we hope we’ll be able to put out these rules before the end of the [Biden] administration. That’s what has driven the urgency to be able to move these things forward,” he said. “Sometimes as we change administrations everybody wants to have a reset along the way. I think in this case — party-independent, I think everybody wants to be able to move forward on these efforts.” 

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from the State Department would amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) with three new exemptions. This rule proposes ITAR exemptions to for a number of official NASA programs — the Lunar Gateway, Mars Sample Return, Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, and Orion spacecraft. 

It also proposes an exemption for electrical connectors between spacecraft and launch vehicles, and another exemption for crewed aircraft for suborbital space tourism or research. 

The State Department’s proposed rule also looks to remove items from the U.S. Munitions List — including spacecraft that conduct collision avoidance, collaborative docking and grappling, and spacecraft for autonomous detection and tracking of ground vehicles and aircraft.

“Together, these three changes should make it easier to export certain satellites and promote these commercial space activities between our allies and partners and strengthen our relationships around the world,” said Chris Weil, Technology and Jurisdiction Analysis Division Chief, DDTC, for the State Department. Weil leads the team responsible for maintaining and updating the U.S. Munitions List within ITAR. 

The Department of Commerce has three rulemakings — one of which is a final rule and already in effect. The final rule removes export controls to Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom for spacecraft related to remote sensing or space-based logistics, assembly, or servicing.

The second is an interim final rule that is in effect, but DOC is still seeking comments. This interim rule reduces licensing requirements on less sensitive items to reflect close relations with certain countries — countries in the European Union, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and South Africa. This rule is expected to reduce the need for about 400 license applications per year. 

In the final proposed rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) proposes changes to controls for spacecraft that would conform to proposed changes to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) related to the U.S. Munitions List. It is intended to allow for more flexible export control policies for commercial important items that do not provide critical military intelligence advantages.