Syria Removed From ITAR 126.1 Arms Embargoed Countries: When Will the BIS Hare Catch Up to the DDTC Tortoise?

The impact of the final rule is significant. By removing Syria from the ITAR § 126.1 list of countries, the State Department has changed three things.

1. Before, DDTC’s policy was to deny all applications effectively creating no path forward for approval of defense articles and services to Syria. Now, DDTC will evaluate each proposed transaction on its merits, considering factors such as the end user, end use, and consistency with US foreign policy and national security interests. 
2. Before, even proposals to sell defense articles and services with no export of technical data were prohibited: this is no longer the case (although any proposal containing technical data still requires a DDTC license or other authorization).
3. Before, any proposal, export, reexport, or transfer of defense articles to Syria was not only prohibited, but it would also trigger an obligation to immediately disclose the act in question to DDTC. That is no longer the case.

This change was made possible by the prior satisfaction of several statutory prerequisites, including the rescission of the terrorism-support determination underlying sections 40 and 40A of the Arms Export Control Act and the waiver or removal of the separate restrictions imposed by the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act, and the Child Soldiers Prevention Act. 

Now we wait and see when the Bureau of Industry and Security plays catchup to DDTC.