[Executive Orders]
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release November 15, 1996
EXECUTIVE ORDER
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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
more
(OVER)
2
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 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.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
THE WHITE HOUSE,
November 15, 1996.
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