ITAR - State Department and Commerce Department Information

Summary

• CLARAty ITAR and Commerce Status
• CLARAty package submitted for ITAR
• Details on ITAR submission process

CLARAty ITAR Status

This message is a summary of the export control perspective regarding the software named CLARAty (Coupled Layer Architecture for Robotic Autonomy). The JPL International and Legislative Affairs office received an official letter from the State Department indicating that CLARAty will not fall under their jurisdiction. The CLARAty package was then sent to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The JPL International and Legislative Affairs office received an official classification from the U.S. Department of Commerce of 2D001 for both the object code and source code for CLARAty.

The CLARAty project has existing collaboration/subcontracts with several institutions listed here. Although all these are US institutions, they have foreign nationals who are interested in accessing CLARAty.

The 2D001 classification is an export-controlled classification with licensing requirement. However, according to the Department of Commerce Export Administration Regulations (EAR), there is a group of countries, called "Country Group B," (or click here) who can receive CLARAty without an export license, so long as a written "letter of assurance" is first obtained from the importer (the person/entity within Country Group B receiving the software.) The letter of assurance permits the use of a license exception, TSR, to export CLARAty. There is a standard letter of assurance (text & format) available from the EAR for this purpose.

This message is only an export summary. This is not an export authorization.

Process for getting access to CLARAty

Detailed ITAR Information for CLARAty Submission

• 2002, August 27
  CLARAty package submitted to State and Commerce Departments - detailed attachment.
  Documents have been submitted to NASA headquarters which will then submit them to the State Department after review. Once State Department provides a ruling on this, the package, if necessary, will be submitted to the Commerce Department.
  
  
• 2002, June 13
  Update on efforts to ease ITAR
  New ITAR regulations look more promising, as of April 20, 2002. Here is a clause for new regulations:
  • The export is to an accredited institution of higher learning, a governmental research center or an established government funded private research center located within countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or countries which have been designated in accordance with section 517 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 as a major non-NATO ally (and as defined further in section 644(q) of that Act) for purposes of that Act and the Arms Export Control Act, or countries that are members of the European Space Agency or the European Union and involves exclusively nationals of such countries;
  • See Part 123, section (i) at:
    http://www.aip.org/enews/fyi/2002/038.html
• 2002, February 27
  Efforts to ease ITAR
  Interesting status report on efforts across the government to ease ITAR restrictions: http://www.aau.edu/research/ITARUpdate.html
  
  
• 2002, February 22
  Clearing CLARAty infrastructure code
  A short timeframe - 1 week. Information from JPL's International and Legislative Affairs Office Meeting between Program Office manager and International Affairs Officer:
  • International Affairs office "has agreed that we should present an item-by-item description of the CLARAty modules. IA office agrees that it is very likely that IA office will say that CLARAty as a "software glue" by itself is not restricted by ITAR. But we have to go through the exercise and get his approval. FYI, apparently, there is no difference between "flight" and "technology" as far as ITAR is concerned.
  • "What is put in CLARAty could be ITAR restricted. Algorithms that are already in public domain are exceptions. New algorithms developed could be restricted by ITAR - TBD
  • "The bottom line is that if we are successful, we might be able to provide CLARAty code to everyone without any problem. However, some of the content may have to be excluded."
  • "The Longer term plan is to develop a writeup on CLARAty and go through the state department. IA office has had preliminary contact with the state department and it seems that rover technology has never been placed under ITAR restriction. There is a hope that the state department will give this to the commerce department which will lower the level of restriction. In this case, it will be easier for foreign nationals to have access to the whole thing, unless they are the "bad guys."
    
    
• 2002, February 13
  Source code vs. Object Code
  From JPL's International and Legislative Affairs Office:
  "The export regulations covers both the source code and the executables/object code of the software. (I think the compiled/binary version is referred to as the object code.) When we submit the paperwork for an official determination of Claraty by State Department, we will be asking for both the source code and the object code. Until we receive an official determination, we do not know the export controls on neither the source code nor the object code. Therefore, at this time, we would not be able to provide export clearance for foreign nationals to access neither the source code nor the object code."

Document Clearance #: CL 04-3594