BIS Seeing Impact of Reduced Licensing Requirements for Australia, UK, Official Says
The Bureau of Industry and Security has begun to experience a significant decline in export license applications for Australia and the U.K. as a result of a rule it issued last year to reduce defense-related licensing requirements for those countries, a Commerce Department official said March 19.
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In the first three months of 2025, license applications for Australia and the U.K. declined about 50% compared with the same period in 2024, the official reported at the BIS annual update conference. “So we are seeing a measurable impact in terms of the streamlining here,” the official said.
The rule, which BIS published in April 2024 as part of the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) security partnership, amended the Export Administration Regulations to give Australia and the U.K. "nearly the same licensing treatment under the EAR as Canada" (see 2404180035). BIS said the move would “foster defense trade and technological innovation" among the AUKUS partners.
As part of the rule, BIS sought public comment on the possibility of removing encryption item licensing requirements for Australia and the U.K. Those comments remain under review, so “stay tuned to see if there’s any additional rulemaking to come on that,” the Commerce official said.
While not directly tied to AUKUS, a rule that BIS issued in October to reduce licensing requirements for remote sensing and on-orbit servicing and logistics satellites also should benefit the AUKUS partners, the official said (see 2410170056).
Meanwhile, the State Department, which eased its own defense trade regulations for Australia and the U.K. by giving them an International Traffic in Arms Regulations exemption in August (see 2408160019), has received “a lot of questions” about the exemption and has answered them in several ways, including in frequently asked questions, or FAQs, posted on its website, a government official said.