NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

AIAA Applauds Administration's Export Control Reform

AIAA President Mark Lewis stated: "AIAA applauds President Obama's recently announced changes to the ITAR policy that will consolidate the export review process under one agency, and will better enable the flow of U.S. products into the international marketplace without compromising national security."

Lewis continued: "Though well intentioned, existing ITAR regulations have sometimes stifled innovation in the U.S., and worked against national interests by encouraging foreign partnerships and creating competing industries overseas. AIAA appreciates the support of like-minded organizations, aerospace companies, and individual engineers and scientists in reaching out to the administration on this issue. In the end, I believe these reforms are a win for all who are concerned about the future of America's aerospace community, as they will help open new markets while actually strengthening our national defense. We look forward to continuing our work with the Administration on export control policy reform."

The changes create the Export Enforcement Coordination Center, which will use a single licensing process to review exports, rather than the current process under which exports are regulated by three oversight agencies with conflicting regulations. This will streamline approvals and provide more concise guidelines for product classification, so that up to two-thirds of existing products that ITAR now bars from trade will be allowed into the global marketplace. The reforms also consolidate all ITAR-related trade information into a single IT system, allowing more rapid communication between parties and further reducing the time needed for the review process. Industry experts estimate that the reforms will open up billions of dollars in trade for the American aerospace sector that existing restrictions had denied them.

AIAA is the world's largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. With more than 35,000 individual members worldwide, and 90 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org.

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
Duane Hyland, 703.264.7558
duaneh@aiaa.org