On January 6, 2020, an interim final rule issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to make certain items subject to the EAR and imposes a license requirement for the export and reexport of certain items to all destinations, except Canada.
Specifically, this rule classifies software specially designed to automate the analysis of geospatial imagery, as specified, under the Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 0Y521 series, specifically under ECCN 0D521. The items that will be subject to these new controls are described under ECCN 0D521 in the 0Y521 series table found in Supplement No. 5 to part 774 of the EAR, as follows:
Geospatial imagery “software” “specially designed” for training a Deep Convolutional Neural Network to automate the analysis of geospatial imagery and point clouds, and having all of the following:
1. Provides a graphical user interface that enables the user to identify objects (e.g., vehicles, houses, etc.) from within geospatial imagery and point clouds in order to extract positive and negative samples of an object of interest;
2. Reduces pixel variation by performing scale, color, and rotational normalization on the positive samples;
3. Trains a Deep Convolutional Neural Network to detect the object of interest from the positive and negative samples; and
4. Identifies objects in geospatial imagery using the trained Deep Convolutional Neural Network by matching the rotational pattern from the positive samples with the rotational pattern of objects in the geospatial imagery.
BIS views that the items may provide a significant military or intelligence advantage to the United States or require control because of concerns regarding foreign policy, pursuant to the ECCN 0Y521 series procedures. Although the comment period of this rule is open until March 6, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce determines that it is in the best interest of national security to immediately implement the controls on January 6, 2020.