577 



i»fost U.S. exports are made under general licenses. Validated li- 

 censes are required for commodities and technical data of a more sen- 

 sitive nature which may not be exported freely to designated countries. 

 To administer the program the Department of Commerce maintains 

 the Commodity Control List which identifies, for each listed com- 

 modity, the destinations to which a validated license is required. For 

 export control purposes, the Soviet Union is classified in Country 

 Group Y with most of the Eastern European countries, Mongolia, and 

 the People's Republic of China. Other Government agencies, such as 

 the Department of State, the Federal Power Commission, and the 

 Atomic Pmergy Commission, exercise authority (under other legisla- 

 tion) for regulating exports of specialized commodities and technical 

 data. The most important criteria for approval or denial of a com- 

 modity for export to Communist countries are: (1) the military 

 applicability of the item; (2) the nature of the technological contri- 

 bution which the item is likely to make to the military or economic 

 potential of the country; and (3) the availability of the item from 

 other countries. 



In March 1951. all general licenses to export to the Soviet Union were 

 revoked. This requirement for validated licenses was relaxed somewhat 

 in 1956, when a number of specified items was again made exportable 

 to the U.S.S.R. under general licenses. Since that time, there has been 

 a gradual trend toward relaxation in the licensing of exports to East- 

 cm p:urope. Poland, in 1957, and Romania, in 1964, were placed in a 

 separate category for which validated licenses for fewer exports were 

 required. In 1966, the requirement for validated licenses for exports 

 to the other Eastern European countries, including the Soviet Union, 

 was removed for over 400 items. In subsequent years, several hundred 

 more commodities were placed in the general license list for export to 

 p]astern Europe. 



This trend toward relaxation accelerated in the late 1960s, particu- 

 larly after passage of the Export Administration Act of 1969 (50 

 U.S.C. App. 2401 et seq., 1970), which replaced the Export Control 

 Act. The new Act maintained export controls, but called for a review 

 of control regulations and control lists. It called on the Commerce De- 

 partment to lift controls on commodities freely available to Communist 

 countries from non-U. S. sources and on items that are only marginally 

 of military value. In short, the 1969 legislation represented a congres- 

 sional mandate for a new direction in export controls. Whereas the 

 thrust of the Export Control Act of 1949 was to limit East-West trade,. 

 the new legislation was designed to foster such trade. The Export Ad- 

 ministration Act expired on June 30, 1971, but Congress enacted resolu- 

 tions (twice in 1971, once in 1972) extending export controls to Au- 

 gust 1, 1972. 



Upon expiration of the Export Administration Act on August 1, 

 L972, the President invoked the authoritv of Section 5(b) of the Trad- 

 ing With the Enemy Act of 1917 (50 U.S.C. App. 5(b) 1970) to con- 

 tinue the export control program. That Act authorized the President 

 to prohibit all private financial and commercial transactions with 

 U.S. enemies and their allies during time of war or during any period 

 of national emergency. In the postwar period, this law had previously 



