Via the ARRL: Open-Source Amateur Satellite Work Not Subject to Export Administration Regulation

CEO Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, reports that Open Research Institute (ORI) received an advisory opinion from the US Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on September 2. The letter confirmed that public internet posts regarding open-source amateur satellite communications work are not subject to Export Administration Regulation (EAR). ORI was founded in March 2018 by Bruce Perens, K6BP, in order to provide a formal structure for open-source satellite work. Prior work by ORI established that open-source amateur satellite communications work was free of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

“This is a significant regulatory success for open-source amateur satellite work and open source in general,” Thompson said. In a later post on the ORI site, Thompson said ITAR and EAR have had a dramatic effect on both commercial and amateur satellite work since the 1990s. “The regulations are blamed for a significant decline in US market share for satellite systems and halted highly successful international amateur collaborations,” she wrote.

Open-source work that is published as it is created and is freely available to the general public at no cost is not subject to ITAR or EAR, Thompson said.

ORI’s work was funded by ARDC, with legal assistance provided by Thomsen and Burke LLP. All documents and links to presentations about the work are available.

Read more – via American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources http://www.arrl.org/news/view/open-source-amateur-satellite-work-not-subject-to-export-administration-regulation