Congress Considers Civil Aircraft Exports

Have you been frustrated by the complex and convoluted laws that apply to exports of aircraft parts? In recent years, several exporters have been surprised to learn that parts that they intended to export for civilian use were regulated as defense-related articles.

Congressman Manzullo () has been leading efforts to smooth out the process for obtaining export licenses for aircraft parts. The Congressman has introduced two separate bills in the current Congress that are designed to facilitate aircraft parts exports by making it clear that civilian aircraft parts are non-military.

Under the current law, the State Department controls exports of defense-related articles and the Commerce Department controls exports of civil aircraft parts. The distinction is important because many Commerce does not require export licenses on many items, and for those that are required to be licensed, the Commerce Department licensing process is easier to navigate than the State Department export licensing process.

The Export Administration Act specifically provides that certain civilian aircraft parts are within the export jurisdiction of the Commerce Department. In recent years, though, the State Department has made use of ambiguities and poor drafting in the law to extend export jurisdiction over certain items that are designed for use in civilian aircraft. This has been a rather rude surprise to some exporters facing fines for exports that appeared to be perfectly compliant.

The Manzullo bill would make it clear that anything that is eligible for an export 8130-3 tag is a civilian aircraft part (and not a defense-related article) for export jurisdiction purposes.

Manzullo has also proposed language that would increase the number of people processing requests for State Department export licenses in order to speed that process as well. The bill number in the House of Representatives is HR 4246.