On August 19, President Trump signed the Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act (H.R. 1316) after the House passed it by voice vote, and the Senate unanimously voted in favor.

The bill amends the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA) by requiring the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to report annually on license applications, enforcement actions, and other authorization requests related to the export, reexport, release, and in-country transfer of items under the EAR to covered entities. Covered entities are defined as those located in countries listed in Country Group D:5 (i.e., countries subject to U.S. arms embargoes) and is included on the BIS Entity List or Military End-User List.

The report must include specific information such as the name of the entity submitting the application, the end user, the destination of the export, the item to be exported and its value, the decision on the license application, and details on the end use checks to ensure compliance with U.S. export controls. The information in the report is exempt from public disclosure, except for aggregate statistics. This bill demonstrates U.S. policymakers’ continued focus on restricting access by covered entities to U.S. items.