The National Foreign Trade Council announced on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 that the Export Control Practitioners Group, composed of a diverse group of associations, businesses, practitioners and seasoned compliance experts, released a comprehensive set of recommendations for transparent and efficient reform of the U.S. export control system. The Practitioners Group, which has been active for the past decade, began preparing these recommendations following the Administration’s announcement of an export control system review in August 2009

 In a letter sent to National Security Advisor General James Jones and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, the Group noted that the recommendations were developed to "assist the reform process in achieving its goals of a streamlined mechanism with higher walls around fewer items."

The Practitioners Group’s guiding principles for reform include the following:

• Pursue reform with a government/private sector partnership at the center.
• Ensure accountability in the decision-making process.
• Control lists, thresholds, and parameters must keep pace with advances in critical technologies.
• Controls must take into account the globalization of research and development of new technologies.
• Export controls must be multilateral to be effective in denying controlled technology to our adversaries.
• A strong technology industrial base is critical to maintaining a strong national defense.

 "The world has changed significantly since the enactment of the first Export Administration Act in 1949, and while we continue to support strong actions to protect our security, the system badly needs reforms that will enhance our security while retaining America’s competitive lead in high technology," stated the Practitioners Group.

Several members of the Group are a part of the business community’s Coalition for Security and Competitiveness, which also released its recommendations for reform this week. While the recommendations issued by the two groups differ in terms of emphasis, the key messages are comparable. The business community is united in the effort to work with the Administration to effectuate reform of outdated U.S. export controls.  To read the detailed recommendations, click on this link:

 http://www.nftc.org/default/Export%20Controls/ECPG%20Letter%201-19-10.pdf