I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3857 To amend the Arms Export Control Act to provide to the United Kingdom an exemption for licensing of defense items for export in the absence of a relevant bilateral agreement. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 6, 2023 Mr. GREEN of Tennessee introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To amend the Arms Export Control Act to provide to the United Kingdom an exemption for licensing of defense items for export in the absence of a relevant bilateral agreement. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Special Relationship 4 Military Improvement Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. EXEMPTION. 6 Section 38 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 7 U.S.C. 2778) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3857.IH H3857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3857 IH (1) in subsection (f)(3), by inserting ‘‘or the 1 United Kingdom’’ after ‘‘Canada’’; and 2 (2) in subsection (j)(1), by striking subpara- 3 graph (C) and inserting after subparagraph (B) the 4 following new subparagraphs: 5 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTION FOR THE UNITED KING- 6 DOM.—The requirement to conclude a bilateral 7 agreement in accordance with subparagraph (A) 8 shall not apply with respect to an exemption for 9 the United Kingdom from the licensing require- 10 ments of this chapter for the export of defense 11 items. 12 ‘‘(D) EXCEPTION FOR DEFENSE COOPERA- 13 TION TREATIES.—The requirement to conclude 14 a bilateral agreement in accordance with sub- 15 paragraph (A) shall not apply with respect to 16 an exemption from the licensing requirements 17 of this chapter for the export of defense items 18 to give effect to the Treaty Between the Gov- 19 ernment of the United States of America and 20 the Government of Australia Concerning De- 21 fense Trade Cooperation, done at Sydney Sep- 22 tember 5, 2007 (and any implementing ar- 23 rangement thereto), except that the United 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3857.IH H3857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3857 IH States shall exempt from the scope of such 1 treaty— 2 ‘‘(i) complete rocket systems (includ- 3 ing ballistic missile systems, space launch 4 vehicles, and sounding rockets) or complete 5 unmanned aerial vehicle systems (including 6 cruise missile systems, target drones, and 7 reconnaissance drones) capable of deliv- 8 ering at least a 500 kilogram payload to a 9 range of 300 kilometers, and associated 10 production facilities, software, or tech- 11 nology for these systems, as defined in the 12 Missile Technology Control Regime Annex 13 Category I, Item 1; 14 ‘‘(ii) individual rocket stages, re-entry 15 vehicles and equipment, solid or liquid pro- 16 pellant motors or engines, guidance sets, 17 thrust vector control systems, and associ- 18 ated production facilities, software, and 19 technology, as defined in the Missile Tech- 20 nology Control Regime Annex Category I, 21 Item 2; 22 ‘‘(iii) defense articles and defense 23 services listed in the Missile Technology 24 Control Regime Annex Category II that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3857.IH H3857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3857 IH are for use in rocket systems, as that term 1 is used in such Annex, including associated 2 production facilities, software, or tech- 3 nology; 4 ‘‘(iv) toxicological agents, biological 5 agents, and associated equipment, as listed 6 in the United States Munitions List (part 7 121.1 of chapter I of title 22, Code of Fed- 8 eral Regulations), Category XIV, subcat- 9 egories (a), (b), (f)(1), (i), (j) as it pertains 10 to (f)(1), (l) as it pertains to (f)(1), and 11 (m) as it pertains to all of the subcat- 12 egories cited in this paragraph; 13 ‘‘(v) defense articles and defense serv- 14 ices specific to the design and testing of 15 nuclear weapons which are controlled 16 under United States Munitions List Cat- 17 egory XVI(a) and (b), along with associ- 18 ated defense articles in Category XVI(d) 19 and technology in Category XVI(e); and 20 ‘‘(vi) defense articles for which Aus- 21 tralian laws, regulations, or other commit- 22 ments would prevent Australia from en- 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3857.IH H3857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3857 IH forcing the control measures specified in 1 such treaty.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3857.IH H3857 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS