Earlier this week, we reported on the new Agreement Guidelines posted last Friday by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”). The new Guidelines provided instructions for electronic filing of requests for approval of agreements to exchange technical data on military items with foreigners (“TAAs”) and agreements for the manufacture of military items overseas (“MLAs”).

One source of concern was the new format announced for filing amendments to these agreements. Although not stated clearly in the new guidelines, DDTC has advised us that the new format, although permissible now, will only become mandatory when electronic filing becomes mandatory in 2010. In the meantime, exporters can still file amendments in the old format — at least if they still have a hard copy of the earlier guidelines which described the old format since those guidelines have disappeared from DDTC’s website.

Another clarification was provided with respect to the requirement that conformed copies of the agreement be submitted with the amendment. DDTC, in describing those conformed copies, stated:

DDTC will only accept amendments that have been “conformed” or consolidated. In other words, all major amendments MUST be submitted as entire agreements with proposed changes identified by bolded text (not “track changes”). Applications that simply describe which sections or articles to the agreement are being modified shall be Returned Without Action

We wondered how all changes, both insertions and deletions, could be bolded without unnecessary confusion. DDTC told us today that additions should be bolded in the conformed copy of the agreement and that deleted sections should simply be deleted, with each deletion being described in the part of the amendment that summarizes the changes accomplished by the amendment. That’s not what the new guidelines say, but it is certainly easier and clearer than bolding all changes in the conformed copy.

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