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New amendments to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) have been finalized by the US Department of State and will take effect on August 15, 2011 according to a report published by the international law firm Norton Rose and will provide a little relief for Canadian companies.
The report focuses primarily on dual nationals and third-country nationals employed by recipients of controlled goods and technology.
“It is also noteworthy that Canada and the US Department of State negotiated agreements whereby the State Department revised its export authorizations for the public sector. Under the agreements, access to defence articles and services exported under ITAR would only be granted to Department of National Defence, Communications Security Establishment Canada, Canadian Space Agency and National Research Council personnel who are Canadian citizens, including dual nationals, on a need-to-know basis and then only to individuals who had obtained a minimum secret-level security clearance. These agreements now ensure that sensitive areas of intergovernmental military cooperation are insulated from a legal challenge under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the Canadian Human Rights Act. However, these agreements do not mitigate the challenges faced by private sector employers who must reconcile competing human rights and ITAR compliance obligations, and particularly employers who choose to bypass the new framework brought about by the new amendment.”
You can read the full report here.
