Administration of Export Controls on Encryption Products Documents
Administration of Export Controls on Encryption Products



Federal Register, Volume 61 Issue 224 (Tuesday, November 19, 1996)

[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 224 (Tuesday, November 19, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 58767-58768]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-29692]
                        Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 224 / Tuesday, November 19, 1996 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 58767]]
                Executive Order 13026 of November 15, 1996
Administration of Export Controls on Encryption
                Products
                By the authority vested in me as President by the
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of
                America, including but not limited to the International
                Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.),
                and in order to take additional steps with respect to
                the national emergency described and declared in
                Executive Order 12924 of August 19, 1994, and continued
                on August 15, 1995, and on August 14, 1996, I, WILLIAM
                J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America,
                have decided that the provisions set forth below shall
                apply to administration of the export control system
                maintained by the Export Administration Regulations, 15
                CFR Part 730 et seq. (``the EAR''). Accordingly, it is
                hereby ordered as follows:
                Section 1. Treatment of Encryption Products. In order
                to provide for appropriate controls on the export and
                foreign dissemination of encryption products, export
                controls of encryption products that are or would be,
                on this date, designated as defense articles in
                Category XIII of the United States Munitions List and
                regulated by the United States Department of State
                pursuant to the Arms Export Control Act, 22 U.S.C. 2778
                et seq. (``the AECA''), but that subsequently are
                placed on the Commerce Control List in the EAR, shall
                be subject to the following conditions: (a) I have
                determined that the export of encryption products
                described in this section could harm national security
                and foreign policy interests even where comparable
                products are or appear to be available from sources
                outside the United States, and that facts and questions
                concerning the foreign availability of such encryption
                products cannot be made subject to public disclosure or
                judicial review without revealing or implicating
                classified information that could harm United States
                national security and foreign policy interests.
                Accordingly, sections 4(c) and 6(h)(2)-(4) of the
                Export Administration Act of 1979 (``the EAA''), 50
                U.S.C. App. 2403(c) and 2405(h)(2)-(4), as amended and
                as continued in effect by Executive Order 12924 of
                August 19, 1994, and by notices of August 15, 1995, and
                August 14, 1996, all other analogous provisions of the
                EAA relating to foreign availability, and the
                regulations in the EAR relating to such EAA provisions,
                shall not be applicable with respect to export controls
                on such encryption products. Notwithstanding this, the
                Secretary of Commerce (``Secretary'') may, in his
                discretion, consider the foreign availability of
                comparable encryption products in determining whether
                to issue a license in a particular case or to remove
                controls on particular products, but is not required to
                issue licenses in particular cases or to remove
                controls on particular products based on such
                consideration;
                    (b) Executive Order 12981, as amended by Executive
                Order 13020 of October 12, 1996, is further amended as
                follows:
                    (1) A new section 6 is added to read as follows:
                ``Sec. 6.  Encryption Products.  In conducting the
                license review described in section 1 above, with
                respect to export controls of encryption products that
                are or would be, on November 15, 1996, designated as
                defense articles in Category XIII of the United States
                Munitions List and regulated by the United States
                Department of State pursuant to the Arms Export Control
                Act, 22 U.S.C. 2778 et seq., but that subsequently are
                placed on the Commerce Control List in the Export
                Administration Regulations, the Departments of State,
                Defense, Energy, and Justice and the Arms Control and
                Disarmament Agency
[[Page 58768]]
                shall have the opportunity to review any export license
                application submitted to the Department of Commerce.
                The Department of Justice shall, with respect to such
                encryption products, be a voting member of the Export
                Administration Review Board described in section
                5(a)(1) of this order and of the Advisory Committee on
                Export Policy described in section 5(a)(2) of this
                order. The Department of Justice shall be a full member
                of the Operating Committee of the ACEP described in
                section 5(a)(3) of this order, and of any other
                committees and consultation groups reviewing export
                controls with respect to such encryption products.''
                    (2) Sections 6 and 7 of Executive Order 12981 of
                December 5, 1995, are renumbered as new sections 7 and
                8, respectively.
                    (c) Because the export of encryption software, like
                the export of other encryption products described in
                this section, must be controlled because of such
                software's functional capacity, rather than because of
                any possible informational value of such software, such
                software shall not be considered or treated as
                ``technology,'' as that term is defined in section 16
                of the EAA (50 U.S.C. App. 2415) and in the EAR (61
                Fed. Reg. 12714, March 25, 1996);
                    (d) With respect to encryption products described
                in this section, the Secretary shall take such actions,
                including the promulgation of rules, regulations, and
                amendments thereto, as may be necessary to control the
                export of assistance (including training) to foreign
                persons in the same manner and to the same extent as
                the export of such assistance is controlled under the
                AECA, as amended by section 151 of Public Law 104-164;
                    (e) Appropriate controls on the export and foreign
                dissemination of encryption products described in this
                section may include, but are not limited to, measures
                that promote the use of strong encryption products and
                the development of a key recovery management
                infrastructure; and
                    (f) Regulation of encryption products described in
                this section shall be subject to such further
                conditions as the President may direct.
                Sec. 2. Effective Date. The provisions described in
                section 1 shall take effect as soon as any encryption
                products described in section 1 are placed on the
                Commerce Control List in the EAR.
                Sec. 3. Judicial Review. This order is intended only to
                improve the internal management of the executive branch
                and to ensure the implementation of appropriate
                controls on the export and foreign dissemination of
                encryption products. It is not intended to, and does
                not, create any rights to administrative or judicial
                review, or any other right or benefit or trust
                responsibility, substantive or procedural, enforceable
                by a party against the United States, its agencies or
                instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or any
                other person.
                    (Presidential Sig.)
                THE WHITE HOUSE,
                     November 15, 1996.
[FR Doc. 96-29692
Filed 11-18-96; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P