US Department of Commerce Issues New Export Controls on Metal Additive Manufacturing

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), an agency within the US Department of Commerce that (among many responsibilities) regulates export licenses for sensitive technologies, has issued an interim final rule on new export controls for several critical technologies, one of which is metal additive manufacturing (AM). Businesses have until November 5, 2024 to submit comments on the interim final rule to Regulations.gov, which may impact the form that the new regulations ultimately take.

Aside from AM, the other affected technologies include certain components used in quantum computing, equipment for semiconductor manufacturing and chip testing such as scanning electron microscopes (SEMs), and some chip designs used for applications like mobile phones. All of the specified technologies now either have new Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs), revisions to existing ECCNs, or both.

While there are many possible reasons why technologies become subject to BIS control, those reasons universally involve national security implications. Thus, in the case of these latest export controls, the relevant BIS document notes that there will be a presumption of approval for exports to countries in “Group A:1” — including many of the EU countries, as well as South Korea, Japan, and Australia — and a presumption of denial for exports to countries in “Group D:1” and “Group D:5”, most notably China and Russia.

Illegal machine gun conversion devices or MCDs. Image courtesy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office

Pertaining to the new ECCN, 2B910, for “Additive manufacturing equipment, designed to produce metal or metal alloy components,” the BIS document (pp. 17-18) notes, “The current state-of-the-art additive manufacturing (AM) technology builds upon more than 30 years of [R&D]. Today, metal AM equipment is used to produce parts and components in military devices, such as aircraft, missiles and propulsion systems. Ultimately, next-generation metal AM equipment with high levels of precision and control will enable significant improvements in part performance properties and advanced military capabilities not yet realistically achievable with current standard AM equipment.

“For these reasons, BIS is adding ECCN 2B910 to the CCL [Commerce Control List] to control specified AM equipment designed to produce metal or metal alloy components, and ‘specially designed’ ‘components’ therefor for national security, regional stability, and anti-terrorism reasons.”

Army reservists at Fort Leonard Wood examine 3D printed casings for explosives. Image courtesy of US Army/Fort Leonard Wood

This news comes amid other similar developments related to the US federal regulatory regime concerning 3D printing. Specifically, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recently convened certain AM industry stakeholders and experts to urge the industry to cooperate in DOJ’s and ATF’s planned heightened response to the growth of 3D printed machine gun conversion devices (MCDs).

MCDs may be the sort of thing that the BIS document is referring to with its mention of “ ‘specially designed’ ‘components’.” This suggests that, while metal AM is the named priority, the law could ultimately affect the export of essentially all 3D printing technology, considering that MCDs are manufacturable on the cheapest desktop polymer printers.

Additionally, it is increasingly viable to convert polymer printers such that they print metals, another factor hinting at how far-reaching the ramifications could be for the new export controls. This supports a point I made in a post from a month ago, that, “…a reckoning is on the horizon for the regulatory environment surrounding AM, and governments around the world are about to become far more interested in developing protocols for monitoring AM technologies.”

As I also noted in that article, I believe the heightened regulatory requirements will be positive for the industry in the long-run. At the very least, the new rules indicate the significance of the role the US government anticipates AM will have in the global economy going forward.