CCRE Applauds House Subcommittee on Approval of Dreier-Lofgren

Washington, D.C. -- The Computer Coalition for Responsible Exports (CCRE) today praised the House International Relations Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade for approving legislation that would help U.S. computer firms sell their products overseas.

The subcommittee voted in favor of H.R. 3680, a bill introduced by Reps. David Dreier (R-CA) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) that would shorten the congressional waiting period for new regulations governing export control thresholds on computers from 180 days to 30 days. The current waiting period is required by the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA, FY 1998).

"We thank the subcommittee, led by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ), for moving forward on legislation that is of great importance to the U.S. computer industry," said Dan Hoydysh, CCRE Co-Chairman and Director of Trade Policy for Unisys. "The subcommittee has recognized that our export control laws need to keep pace with technology, and a six month waiting period does not meet that goal."

CCRE noted that while the 180-day waiting period is in place for widely available business computers, the sale of tanks, rockets, warships and high-performance aircraft under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program requires only a 30-day congressional review period.

"We are gratified that the subcommittee acted on this priority to reduce the waiting period. One hundred and eighty days is just too long," said Rhett Dawson, Co-Chairman of CCRE and President of the Information Technology Industry Council. "A 30-day waiting period, similar to that applied to other export control and national security regimes, would still give the Congress adequate time to review the national security ramifications of any changes in the U.S. computer export control regime."

"We urge members of the full International Relations Committee to support Dreier-Lofgren next week, during its consideration of the bill," said Ken Kay, Executive Director of CCRE.

CCRE is committed to promoting and protecting U.S. national security interests, and seeks to work in close partnership with the U.S. government to ensure that America`s economic, national security, and foreign policy goals are realized. Members of CCRE believe that a strong, competitive computer industry is critical to U.S. national and economic security and contributes significantly to U.S. economic and technological leadership.

CCRE members include Apple Computer, Inc., Compaq Computer Corporation, Dell Computer Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM Corporation, Intel Corporation, NCR Corporation, SGI, Sun Microsystems, Inc., Unisys Corporation, the American Electronics Association (AEA), the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), the Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP), the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI).

For more information about CCRE and the issues surrounding export controls, visit the CCRE website at: www.ccre.net.