[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3857 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Special Relationship Military 
Improvement Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. EXEMPTION.

    Section 38 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (f)(3), by inserting ``or the United 
        Kingdom'' after ``Canada''; and
            (2) in subsection (j)(1), by striking subparagraph (C) and 
        inserting after subparagraph (B) the following new 
        subparagraphs:
                    ``(C) Exception for the united kingdom.--The 
                requirement to conclude a bilateral agreement in 
                accordance with subparagraph (A) shall not apply with 
                respect to an exemption for the United Kingdom from the 
                licensing requirements of this chapter for the export 
                of defense items.
                    ``(D) Exception for defense cooperation treaties.--
                The requirement to conclude a bilateral agreement in 
                accordance with subparagraph (A) shall not apply with 
                respect to an exemption from the licensing requirements 
                of this chapter for the export of defense items to give 
                effect to the Treaty Between the Government of the 
                United States of America and the Government of 
                Australia Concerning Defense Trade Cooperation, done at 
                Sydney September 5, 2007 (and any implementing 
                arrangement thereto), except that the United States 
                shall exempt from the scope of such treaty--
                            ``(i) complete rocket systems (including 
                        ballistic missile systems, space launch 
                        vehicles, and sounding rockets) or complete 
                        unmanned aerial vehicle systems (including 
                        cruise missile systems, target drones, and 
                        reconnaissance drones) capable of delivering at 
                        least a 500 kilogram payload to a range of 300 
                        kilometers, and associated production 
                        facilities, software, or technology for these 
                        systems, as defined in the Missile Technology 
                        Control Regime Annex Category I, Item 1;
                            ``(ii) individual rocket stages, re-entry 
                        vehicles and equipment, solid or liquid 
                        propellant motors or engines, guidance sets, 
                        thrust vector control systems, and associated 
                        production facilities, software, and 
                        technology, as defined in the Missile 
                        Technology Control Regime Annex Category I, 
                        Item 2;
                            ``(iii) defense articles and defense 
                        services listed in the Missile Technology 
                        Control Regime Annex Category II that are for 
                        use in rocket systems, as that term is used in 
                        such Annex, including associated production 
                        facilities, software, or technology;
                            ``(iv) toxicological agents, biological 
                        agents, and associated equipment, as listed in 
                        the United States Munitions List (part 121.1 of 
                        chapter I of title 22, Code of Federal 
                        Regulations), Category XIV, subcategories (a), 
                        (b), (f)(1), (i), (j) as it pertains to (f)(1), 
                        (l) as it pertains to (f)(1), and (m) as it 
                        pertains to all of the subcategories cited in 
                        this paragraph;
                            ``(v) defense articles and defense services 
                        specific to the design and testing of nuclear 
                        weapons which are controlled under United 
                        States Munitions List Category XVI(a) and (b), 
                        along with associated defense articles in 
                        Category XVI(d) and technology in Category 
                        XVI(e); and
                            ``(vi) defense articles for which 
                        Australian laws, regulations, or other 
                        commitments would prevent Australia from 
                        enforcing the control measures specified in 
                        such treaty.''.
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