[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 26 (Monday, February 9, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6948-6949]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02681]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of Industry and Security
[Docket No. 150127079-5079-01]
Foreign Availability Determination: Anisotropic Plasma Dry
Etching Equipment
AGENCY: Bureau of Industry and Security, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of Foreign Availability Determination.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces that the Under Secretary for Industry
and
[[Page 6949]]
Security has determined that foreign availability exists for
anisotropic plasma dry etching equipment controlled for national
security reasons under Export Control Classification Number (ECCN)
3B001.c on the Commerce Control List. This foreign availability
determination is in response to a submission from the Semiconductor
Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) industry association. The
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has provided a proposal to the
Department of State to submit to the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export
Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies to
remove the 3.B.1.c control from the Arrangement's Dual-Use List. This
determination was made pursuant to Section 5(f) of the Export
Administration Act of 1979, as amended, and Part 768 of the EAR.
ADDRESSES: BIS welcomes comments on this foreign availability
determination on an ongoing basis. You may submit comments by any of
the following methods:
Email: [email protected]. Include the phrase
``Anisotropic Plasma Dry Etching Equipment Determination'' in the
subject line;
Mail: Orestes Theocharides, Office of Technology
Evaluation, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of
Commerce, Room 1093, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC
20230; or
Fax to (202) 482-5361. Include the phrase ``Anisotropic
Plasma Dry Etching Equipment Determination'' in the subject line.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerard J. Horner, Office of Technology
Evaluation, Department of Commerce, Room 1093, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW., Washington, DC 20230, Telephone: (202) 482-2078; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 5(f) of the Export Administration Act of 1979, as amended
(EAA), authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to conduct foreign
availability assessments to examine and evaluate the effectiveness of
U.S. export controls on certain items that are controlled for national
security reasons under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) (15
CFR parts 730-774). The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has been
delegated from the Secretary of Commerce the responsibility for
conducting these assessments and issuing a final foreign availability
determination. Part 768 of the EAR sets forth the procedures related to
foreign availability assessments.
On July 16, 2014, BIS received a foreign availability submission
from the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI)
industry association, a group of companies that does business all over
the world and that serve the manufacturing supply chain for the micro-
and nano-electronics industries. SEMI's July 16, 2014 submission
asserts the foreign availability of anisotropic plasma dry etching
equipment in China. This type of semiconductor etching equipment is
controlled for national security reasons under Export Control
Classification Number (ECCN) 3B001.c on the Commerce Control List
(CCL). It is used in the process for producing dual-use semiconductor
devices such as flash memories, microwave monolithic integrated
circuits, transistors, and analog-to-digital-converters. These devices
are used in civil and military applications such as radars, point-to-
point radio communications, microprocessors, cellular infrastructure,
and satellite communications. The national security control BIS has
applied to anisotropic plasma dry etching equipment implements the
Wassenaar Arrangement's Dual-Use List 3.B.1.c control. SEMI's
submission asserts that anisotropic plasma dry etch equipment of
comparable quality to that subject to control under ECCN 3B001.c is
available-in-fact from China in sufficient quantities to render the
U.S. export control of the equipment ineffective.
After reviewing SEMI's submission, on September 8, 2014, BIS
published in the Federal Register a Notice of Foreign Availability
Assessment: Anisotropic Plasma Dry Etching Equipment (79 FR 53166),
which formally initiated a foreign availability assessment. To carry
out the assessment, BIS conducted interagency meetings with
stakeholders, obtained input from the exporting community, and visited,
in China, a producer of anisotropic plasma dry etching equipment
meeting the 3B001.c control parameters, and a foundry using a Chinese-
produced anisotropic plasma dry etching tool. As a result of BIS's
analysis of the data collected through the assessment, BIS recommended
that I determine that the etching equipment of ECCN 3B001.c capability
is available-in-fact to China, from a non-U.S. (Chinese) source, in
sufficient quantity, and of comparable quality so that continuation of
the existing national security export control would be ineffective in
achieving its purpose.
After reviewing the assessment and recommendation, I determined
that anisotropic plasma dry etching equipment controlled for national
security reasons under ECCN 3B001.c on the CCL is foreign available to
China. Consequently, BIS has submitted a proposal to the Department of
State to remove the Wassenaar Arrangement's Dual-Use List 3.B.1.c
control.
Dated: February 4, 2015.
Eric L. Hirschhorn,
Under Secretary of Industry and Security.
[FR Doc. 2015-02681 Filed 2-6-15; 8:45 am]
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