SPIE Category XII Webinar Q&A

12 May 2015

  1. How do these sections relate to optical components (lenses, mirrors, etc) that might be used in any one of these systems, but also are used in uncountable other applications of non-military uses? Mike Demarco

Mark- comes down to specially designed. If you have a stock item available to anyone it would not be considered. Kerry said that there was a catch-all that we don’t see any more in the revise categories. Which should help with the bits and parts. Jennifer a lot of the components are called out in category XII that need to be reviewed by affected companies. The language referring to lenses is particularly broad. Any concerns regarding the optical component language should be detailed in your comments.

  1. In Paragraph b # 5, what precisely do they mean by optical augmentation systems? Valerie Cook

For clarification on "optical augmentation systems" State replied:
“They are military systems that uses the variance in the reflection of lasers off the scene to see objects that are not visible to the naked eye, or often even to IR sensors.“

This does a good job describing:

  1. Category e covers wafers. As written it is rather vague as to what is meant by wafers, and could cover all semiconductor basedelectronics or optoelectronics. Are we to leave it up to the state department to decide?

Kerry said, make a comment and include your suggested ideas for specificity. Jennifer said alternatively, instead of suggesting specific parameters, you could suggest the addition of “specially designed for military purposes” to the entry.

  1. A microbolometer falls under 6A003 but it has a ROIC. Is it controlled by two ECCNs? What if there is software in a microbolometer? Is itcontrolled by another ECCN? David Chenault

Mark- commerce tends to control by item. We look at the system as a whole.

  1. pg 13, item 4, "256 Detector elements"? seems quite low. – John Spa

Jennifer said that it makes a good comment on the parameters being incorrectly placed. Contrast w military vs commercially available

  1. How can people do ROICs? Aren't all the foundries overseas now? Paul McManamon

Mark highlighting that they are all done overseas and commenting on availability, be specific. All presenters agreed with this issue.

  1. I did have a clarification question from slide #17 as follows: directly into entrance aperture of an electro-optical or Infrared (EO/IR) sensor controlled in this subchapter, within either:

The Spectral Band exceeding 10nm but not exceeding 400nm, or The Spectral Band exceeding 900nm but not exceeding 30,000nm.

I read this as operating in the UV band or in the IR bands only are being restricted but operation over a broadband range (i.e. 300nm to 2500nm) is NOT restricted. Am I understanding this correctly or not correctly? Stephen Brooks (Submitted via email after webinar )

Kerry responded, Strictly speaking, yes. The control covers soft X-ray-EUV-DUV-UV then NIR-SWIR-MWIR-LWIR-ULWIR. It leaves VIS out. Note that all control criteria need to be met (e.g., apart from falling within one or both of the defined nanometer buckets, the system would need to be radiometrically calibrated). Please keep in mind that even if a particular system does not meet the control criteria of a particular subcategory in the USML, it may get captured by control criteria of another subcategory in the USML. If you determine the ITAR does not apply, remember to carefully review the Commerce Control List.