One of the jobs of this blog is to inform our faithful readers about changes that DDTC makes in its rules and guidelines but, for whatever reason, decides that it should keep secret. Currently Section 13.2(a)(3) of the Guidelines for Preparing Electronic Agreements (7 Oct 2009), requires applicants to attach to proviso reconsideration requests a separate scanned pdf copy of the DSP-5 Agreement approval. It also requires that the 9-digit DSP-5 number be referenced in blocks A and C of the continuation to Block 8.

Notwithstanding Section 13.2(a)(3), DDTC has not been requiring scanned copies of the approved DSP-5 be submitted with the proviso request, presumably because the 9-digit DSP-5 number permits licensing officers to access the agreement approvals in the D-Trade system itself. In a recent email to an exporter, the DDTC recently confirmed that the scanned copy is no longer necessary in proviso reconsideration requests. It also noted that amendment requests did not require the inclusion of a scanned copy of the license approving the agreement in question. Apparently, this change in processing requirements will be made public when DDTC gets around to issuing a new version of these guidelines.

The change of procedure with respect to agreement amendments poses a bit of a problem, which the DDTC email acknowledged. Under the guidelines, if the last amendment/basic agreement was submitted electronically, the exporter must use the 9-digit DSP-5 number to identify the case. Otherwise, the exporter must use the 6-digit DA/MA/TA number to identify previous paper cases. But if the DA/MA/TA number is used, the people at the Defense Technology Security Administration (“DTSA”), which uses the electronic U.S. Export System, can’t get access to those prior agreements. Whether this has slowed down DTSA’s approval of these requests is not known.

The U.S. Export System is supposed to become the unified electronic filing and processing system for all exports. Whether the new guideline permitting the exporter to omit a scanned copy of the license will survive when and if the unified system goes into place is also not known.