DDTC No Longer Accepting Expired Form DSP-83

Washington State Capital
Washington State Capital
Reeves & Dola, LLP
Reeves & Dola, LLP

Washington, DC -(AmmoLand.com)- The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”) advises industry that as of May 14, 2016, DDTC will no longer accept expired Forms DSP-83 Nontransfer and Use Certificate (the current form has an expiration date of May 31, 2018).

DDTC will implement this policy as follows:

1.  All PENDING license applications (applications received after May 6 but before May 14, 2016) with an expired Form DSP-83 will require the applicant by proviso to complete and submit to DDTC the fully executed current Form DSP-83 before the export is initiated and no later than July 1, 2016.  In the event a pending license is older than the expiration date of the submitted Form DSP-83, the license application will not be affected as long as the Form DSP-83 was fully executed and the application submitted to DDTC prior to the expiration date of the form.

2.  Starting May 14 and until July 1, 2016, license applications submitted to DDTC with an expired Form DSP-83 must also include a signed separate letter from the Empowered Official acknowledging they understand the requirement to obtain a new DSP-83 prior to DDTC approval of the case. If a newly executed current Form DSP-83 is not uploaded to the D-Trade case file by July 1, 2016, the application will be Returned Without Action.

3.  Effective July 1, 2016, any application submitted with an expired DSP-83 will be Returned Without Action.

License applicants should review the version of the Form DSP-83 they are using, including those already signed by the foreign parties but not yet submitted to DDTC. To avoid unnecessary delays in review times or Returns Without Action, applicants must use the most current version of the Form DSP-83, which is available for immediate download from DDTC’s website.

The entire Industry Notice is as follows:

Updated DSP-83 Nontransfer and Use Certificate Form

In November 2015 DDTC published a web notice regarding the updating of several forms, including the DSP-83 Nontransfer and Use Certificate with a new extended expiration date of May 31, 2018. The web notice explicitly stated “Earlier versions of these forms will be rejected beginning November 26, 2015.” However, as the earlier versions of the DSP-83 forms continued to be submitted via D-Trade as supporting documentation in PDF format, there was no automatic rejection of the expired form by the D-Trade application.

Our review of applications with accompanying DSP-83’s has shown that implementation of this requirement has been inconsistent and the expired form continues to be used by industry despite having a date clearly indicating the form is expired. DDTC is aware of the significant effort it takes to obtain foreign signatures on these documents; however we also have a legal obligation to require use of non-expired form versions approved by the Office of Management and Budget.

This is official notice that effective immediately, all license applications that are pending with DDTC, including any received by DDTC after this web notice but prior to May 14, 2016, with an attached expired version of the DSP-83 will require completion of the non-expired version of the DSP-83 before the applicant can initiate the export. These affected licenses will receive a proviso that directs the license applicant to upload a new version of the non-expired DSP-83 form to D- Trade prior to export but not later than July 1, 2016. Since DDTC has pending licenses older than the expiration date of the expired version of the DSP-83, if the attached DSP-83 was fully executed and the license submitted to DDTC prior to the expiration date on the form, those licenses will be excluded from this policy.

This is official notice that effective May 14, 2016 DDTC will not accept applications with the expired DSP-83 unless the application includes an explicit signed separate letter from the Empowered Official acknowledging they understand the requirement to obtain a new DSP-83 prior to DDTC approval of the case. This is to allow the U.S. government time to review the pending application while the applicant is seeking the correct documentation. These cases will be Returned Without Action on July 1 if the correct DSP-83 has not been uploaded to the D-Trade case file.

This is official notice that effective July 1, 2016 DDTC will Return Without Action any applications submitted using the expired DSP-83 documentation.

About Reeves & Dola:

Reeves & Dola is a Washington, DC law firm that specializes in helping clients navigate the highly regulated and complex world of manufacturing, sales and international trade of defense and commercial products. We have a deep understanding of the Federal regulatory process, and use our expertise in working with a variety of Federal agencies to assist our clients with their transactional and regulatory needs.

For more information, visit: www.ReevesDola.com.