All commodities exported to any destination, except Canada, from the
United States, its territories and possessions are subject to export
control. There are three main techniques utilized in the administration
of such controls:
1. Shipments of commodities contained in the Positive List[3] are under
control to virtually all destinations;
2. For some commodities, a general license is authorized permitting
exportation to virtually all friendly destinations without requiring
that an export license be issued;
3. All commodities, whether or not on the Positive List and
irrespective of any general license provisions, are under licensing
control to subgroup A destinations (i.e., Soviet Bloc, including
Communist China and North Korea), Hong Kong and Macao.
The Comprehensive Export Schedule published by the Bureau of Foreign
Commerce (BFC) of the Department of Commerce must be consulted in
order to determine whether a validated license is required for the
exportation of a given commodity to a specific destination as well
as to determine other export control regulations of the Commerce
Department. The Comprehensive Export Schedule is supplemented 2 or
3 times a month by BFC's Current Export Bulletin. The Secretary of
Commerce's Quarterly Report to the President and the Congress reports
major policy changes and activities of the Department of Commerce in
carrying out its export control activities.
The two main policies as indicated in the Export Control Act which
is administered by the Department of Commerce are export controls
for security and for short supply reasons. The objective of security
controls as embodied in the Export Control Act of 1949, as extended, is
to exercise the necessary vigilance over exports from the standpoint
of their significance to the national security. The controls were
designed to deny or restrict the exportation of strategic commodities
to the Soviet bloc in order to impede the buildup and maintenance of
the Soviet war potential. Shipments of all commodities to Communist
China and North Korea are embargoed while shipments to the European
Soviet bloc, Hong Kong, and Macao are either denied or restricted.
In addition, all proposed shipments of strategic commodities to all
destinations, except Canada, are carefully scrutinized to assure that
the goods will not be transshipped or diverted to unfriendly hands. The
Commerce Department has developed procedures to prevent the frustration
of our own export controls which would result from shipping a strategic
item to a country which (1) ships identical or closely similar items
to the Soviet bloc, or (2) would use the American item directly in the
manufacture of strategic items for the Soviet bloc.
In order to prevent the transshipment abroad of United States
commodities, the Department of Commerce also has regulations covering
the unauthorized movement of United States commodities after they
leave United States shores. These regulations generally referred to
as the "destination control" provisions are designed to prohibit the
reexportation from the country of ultimate destination except upon
written authorization from BFC. These regulations also restrict ships,
planes or other carriers from delivering United States origin goods to
other than the destination specified on the export control documents.
In addition, the United States participates in the international IC/DV
(import certificate--delivery verification) system described elsewhere
in this report.
In addition to United States export controls for security reasons, it
is necessary to administer export controls for short supply reasons
in order to protect the domestic economy from the excessive drain of
scarce materials and to reduce the inflationary impact of abnormal
demand. Such controls are usually exercised by means of export programs
or quotas fixed by the Secretary of Commerce. The easing of supply
programs in recent months has led to the prompt lifting of nearly all
domestic controls over materials: such actions have generally been
followed by the relaxation of related export controls for short supply
reasons. Thus, export controls for short supply reasons do not play as
important a part as before in comparison with security controls.
[3] The Positive List of Commodities is a current list contained in the
Comprehensive Export Schedule showing the commodities which require a
validated license from the Bureau of Foreign Commerce of the Department
of Commerce.