On a Federal Register notice to be published on November 7, 2012, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a proposed ruling limiting the time allowance to submit a final, comprehensive narrative account required as part of a voluntary self-disclosure (VSD), within 180 days after the initial notification.

Voluntary Self-Disclosures are part of section 764.5 of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), which sets forth a procedure for parties which might have violated the regulations, to disclose the facts to the Office of Export Enforcement (OEE). The procedure includes an initial notification, describing the general facts, to be followed by a complete review of the events, which should include all supporting documentation.

In the notice, BIS explains that "currently, § 764.5 of the EAR does not include a specific time limit within which a narrative account must be submitted to OEE . Too often, initial notifications are not promptly followed by comprehensive narrative accounts, and as a result, OEE must maintain open files on voluntary disclosures for extended periods of time without making sufficient progress towards resolving the matter disclosed."

According to the notice, failure to comply with the new 180-day deadline will not result in a violation of the EAR, but will reduce the mitigating impact of the voluntary self-disclosure. Comments must be received by BIS within 60 days after the publication on the Federal Register.

The proposed rule is available online here.