At the end of an interview in this week’s print edition of Space News, David Cavossa of the Satellite Industry Association brought up some new legislation regarding everyone’s favorite topic, export control:
Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) has introduced a bill to make the export control act even tougher (H.R. 4572) so we’re following that. Unfortunately, it looks like things in export control are getting worse before they get better.
I looked up HR 4572, which revises and extends the existing Export Administration Act. The bill was introduced by Congressman Hyde back in December 2005, although there has been no action on the legislation since then, suggesting that it will be difficult to get is passed before the current Congress ends. Not being an export control law expert myself, it’s difficult to pick up all the issues of concern with the legislation, although one thing that stands out is that it increases the penalties for violations compared to existing law. Is there anything else in the legislation that is cause for concern for the space industry?
While this probably isn’t good news, it’s also largely irrelevant for the space industry. Hyde’s bill would extend and amend the Export Administration Act, which is the basis for the Export Administration Regulations administered by the Commerce Department. On a quick glance, the bill does not appear to affect the Arms Export Control Act, which is the basis for the ITAR administered by State. Since all (or essentially all) space technologies fall into the ITAR, this bill would have no direct effect. Still, if Hyde had his way, the ITAR would be even more of a problem for space technological development than it is now, so a victory for his general approach on export controls would not be a good thing for the industry.