BIS Sends UAS ICTS Security ANPRM to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) from the DOC’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on “Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain: Unmanned Aircraft Systems”.

According to the Spring 2024 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) will publish an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to seek public comment on questions related to transactions involving information and communications technology and services integral to Unmanned Aerial Systems that are designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned, controlled, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of foreign countries or foreign non-government persons identified at 15 CFR 7.4, pursuant to Executive Order (EO) 13873 [link added]. This ANPRM will assist BIS in determining the technologies and market participants most appropriate for regulation pursuant to EO 13873.”

While the incoming Trump Administration is expected to be regulatorily reluctant this is an anti-China measure that would generally be expected to receive active support from the President. This is early enough in the regulatory development cycle that it will not be difficult to put the new administration’s stamp on the language of the rulemaking.