CFR Subpart C

CFR Subpart C
in effect

15 C.F.R. § 960.7 License grant or denial.

(a) Based on the Secretary's review of the application, the Secretary must determine whether the applicant will comply with the requirements of the Act, this part, and the license. The Secretary will presume that the applicant will comply, unless the Secretary has specific, credible evidence to the contrary. If the Secretary determines that the applicant will comply, the Secretary shall grant the license. (b) The Secretary shall make the determination in paragraph (a) of this section within 60 days of the notification under § 960.5(c), and shall notify the applicant in writing whether the license is granted or denied. (c) If the Secretary has not notified the applicant whether the license is granted or denied within 60 days, the applicant may submit a request that the license be granted. Within three days of this request, the Secretary shall grant the license, unless the Secretary determines with specific, credible evidence that the applicant will not comply with the requirements of the Act, this part, or the license, in which case the Secretary will deny the license, or the Secretary and the applicant mutually agree to extend this review period.

15 C.F.R. § 960.8 Standard license conditions for all tiers.

All licenses granted under this part shall specify that the licensee shall: (a) Comply with the Act, this part, the license, applicable domestic legal obligations, and the international obligations of the United States; (b) Operate the system in such manner as to preserve the national security of the United States and to observe international obligations and policies, as articulated in the other conditions included in this license; (c) Upon request, offer to the government of any country (including the United States) unenhanced data collected by the system concerning the territory under the jurisdiction of such government without delay and on reasonable terms and conditions, unless doing so would be prohibited by law or license conditions; (d) Upon termination of operations under the license, make disposition of any satellites in space in a manner satisfactory to the President; (e) Notify the Secretary in writing of each of the following events, no later than seven days after the event: (1) The launch and deployment of each system component, to include confirmation that the component matches the orbital parameters and data collection characteristics of the system, as described in Part D of the license; (2) Each disposal of an on-orbit component of the system; (3) The detection of an anomaly; and (4) The licensee's financial insolvency or dissolution; (f) Request and receive approval for a license modification before taking any action that would change a material fact in the license; (g) Certify that all material facts in the license remain accurate pursuant to the procedures in § 960.14 no later than October 15th of each year; (h) Cooperate with compliance, monitoring, and enforcement authorities described in the Act and this part, and permit the Secretary to access, at all reasonable times and with no shorter notice than 48 hours, any component of the system for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the Act, this part, and the license; and (i) Refrain from disseminating unenhanced data, or processed data or products derived from the licensee's system, of the State of Israel at a resolution finer than the resolution most recently specified by the Secretary in the Federal Register as being available from commercial sources.

15 C.F.R. § 960.9 Additional standard license conditions for Tier 2 systems.

If the Secretary has categorized the system as Tier 2 under § 960.6, the license shall specify that the licensee shall comply with the conditions listed in § 960.8 and further shall comply with the following conditions until the Secretary notifies the licensee that the system belongs in a lower-numbered tier: (a) Comply with limited-operations directives issued by the Secretary, in accordance with a determination made by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State pursuant to the procedures in Section IV(D) of the MOU, that require licensees to temporarily limit data collection and/or dissemination during periods of increased concerns for national security and where necessary to meet international obligation or foreign policy interests; and: (1) Be able to comply with limited-operations directives at all times. This includes: (i) The ability to implement National Institute of Standards and Technology-approved encryption, in accordance with the manufacturer's security policy, wherein the key length is at least 256 bits, for communications to and from the on-orbit components of the system related to tracking, telemetry, and control and for transmissions throughout the system of the data specified in the limited-operations directive; and (ii) Implementing measures, consistent with industry best practice for entities of similar size and business operations, that prevent unauthorized access to the system and identify any unauthorized access in the event of a limited-operations directive; (2) Provide and continually update the Secretary with a point of contact and an alternate point of contact for limited-operations directives; and (3) During any such limited-operations directive, permit the Secretary to immediately access any component of the system for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the limited-operations directive, the Act, this part, and the license. (b) Conduct resolved imaging of other artificial resident space objects (ARSO) orbiting the Earth only with the written consent of the registered owner of the ARSO to be imaged and with notification to the Secretary at least five days prior to imaging. For purposes of this paragraph (b), “resolved imaging” means the imaging of another ARSO that results in data depicting the ARSO with a resolution of 3 x 3 pixels or greater.

15 C.F.R. § 960.10 Additional standard and temporary license conditions for Tier 3 systems.

(a) If the Secretary has categorized the system as Tier 3 under § 960.6, the license shall specify that the licensee shall comply with the conditions listed in § 960.8 and further shall comply with the following conditions until the Secretary notifies the licensee that the system belongs in a lower-numbered tier for which the following conditions are not required: (1) Comply with limited-operations directives issued by the Secretary, in accordance with a determination made by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State pursuant to the procedures in Section IV(D) of the MOU, that require licensees to temporarily limit data collection and/or dissemination during periods of increased concerns for national security and where necessary to meet international obligations or foreign policy interests; and: (i) Be able to comply with limited-operations directives at all times. This includes: (A) The ability to implement National Institute of Standards and Technology-approved encryption, in accordance with the manufacturer's security policy, wherein the key length is at least 256 bits, for communications to and from the on-orbit components of the system related to tracking, telemetry, and control and for transmissions throughout the system of the data specified in the limited-operations directive; and (B) Implementing measures, consistent with industry best practice for entities of similar size and business operations, that prevent unauthorized access to the system and identify any unauthorized access in the event of a limited-operations directive; (ii) Provide and continually update the Secretary with a point of contact and an alternate point of contact for limited-operations directives; and (iii) During any such limited-operations directive, permit the Secretary to immediately access any component of the system for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the limited-operations directive, the Act, this part, and the license. (2) Conduct resolved imaging of other artificial resident space objects (ARSO) orbiting the Earth only with the written consent of the registered owner of the ARSO to be imaged and with notification to the Secretary at least five days prior to imaging, or as may otherwise be provided in a temporary license condition developed under paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section. For purposes of this paragraph (a)(2), “resolved imaging” means the imaging of another ARSO that results in data depicting the ARSO with a resolution of 3 x 3 pixels or greater. (3) Comply with any temporary license conditions developed in accordance with paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section until their specified expiration date, including any extensions of the expiration date. (b) To determine whether additional temporary license conditions are necessary, the Secretary shall notify the Secretaries of Defense and State of any system categorized as Tier 3 under § 960.6. The Secretaries of Defense and State shall determine whether any temporary license conditions are necessary (in addition to the standard license conditions in § 960.8) to meet national security concerns or international obligations and policies of the United States regarding that system. Within 21 days of receiving the notification, the Secretary of Defense or State shall notify the Secretary of any such conditions and the length of time such conditions should remain in place, which shall not exceed one year from the earlier of either when the licensee first delivers unenhanced data suitable for evaluating the system's capabilities to the Secretary (under reasonable terms and conditions or other mutually agreed arrangement with the Secretary of Defense or State), or when the Secretary of Defense or State first obtains comparably suitable data from another source, unless the length of such condition is extended in accordance with paragraph (e) of this section. (c) The Secretary shall review the notification from the Secretary of Defense or State under paragraph (b) of this section and aim to craft the least restrictive temporary license condition(s) possible, before the expiration of the 60-day application review period under § 960.7(b). In crafting such conditions the Secretary shall consult, as appropriate, with the Secretaries of Defense and State and the applicant or licensee, to determine whether the proposed condition would be consistent with applicable laws. In making this determination, the Secretary shall consider whether: (1) The risk addressed by the proposed condition is specific and compelling; (2) The proposed condition would be effective against the risk; (3) The proposed condition addresses only the data proposed to be collected that are not available from any domestic or foreign source; (4) The U.S. Government cannot currently mitigate the risk without the proposed condition; (5) The U.S. Government cannot address the risk by some less restrictive means than the proposed condition; and (6) The applicant or licensee can mitigate the risk by taking alternative action. (d) When considering the factors under paragraphs (c)(1) through (6) of this section, the Secretary shall accept as final the determinations made by the Secretary of Defense or State as appropriate, in such Secretary's notification to the Secretary of the need for such conditions. If the Secretary determines that a condition proposed by the Secretary of Defense or State would be consistent with applicable law, the Secretary shall include such condition in the license, absent any elevation of a dispute under paragraph (f) of this section. (e) The Secretary will notify the Secretaries of Defense and State 90 days before the expiration of a temporary condition imposed under this section. If, within 30 days after such notification, either the Secretary of Defense or State notifies the Secretary that an extension is needed, the Secretary shall consult with the Secretary of Defense or State about the ongoing need for the temporary condition. The Secretary may extend the expiration date of the temporary condition for a maximum of one year, and may extend the condition no more than two times unless requested by the Secretary of Defense or State. The authority to request such additional extensions shall not be delegated by the Secretary of Defense or State. Therefore, absent a request specifically from the Secretary of Defense or State, any temporary condition may exist for no more than a total of three years. The Secretary shall grant an extension if the Secretary determines that: (1) The Secretary requesting the extension has shown that the considerations in paragraph (c) of this section justify an extension; and (2) The Secretary has notified the affected licensee no less than 60 days before the expiration of the temporary condition that an extension is being sought. (f) If, at any point during the procedures in this section, the Secretary, the Secretary of Defense, or the Secretary of State objects to any determination, they may elevate the objection pursuant to the interagency dispute resolution procedures in Section IV(B) of the MOU.

15 C.F.R. § 960.11 No additional conditions.

No other conditions shall be included in a license granted under this part, or imposed in such a license after the license has been issued, except in accordance with the provisions of § 960.13 or § 960.17.

15 C.F.R. § 960.12 Applicant-requested waiver before license issuance.

As part of the application, the applicant may request that any condition listed in § 960.8, § 960.9, or § 960.10 be waived or adjusted. The Secretary may approve the request to waive or adjust any such condition if the Secretary determines, after consultation with the Secretaries of Defense and State as appropriate, that the Secretary may waive or adjust the condition without violating the Act or other law, and: (a) The requirement is not applicable due to the nature of the applicant or the proposed system; (b) The applicant will achieve the goal in a different way; or (c) There is other good cause to waive or adjust the condition.

15 C.F.R. § 960.13 Licensee-requested modification after license issuance.

(a) The licensee may request in writing that the Secretary modify the license after the license is issued. Such requests should include the reason for the request and relevant supporting documentation. (b) If the Secretary determines that the requested modification of a license would result in its re-categorization from Tier 1 to Tier 2 under § 960.6, the Secretary shall notify the licensee that approval would require issuance of the conditions in § 960.9, and provide the licensee an opportunity to withdraw or revise the request. (c) If the Secretary determines that the requested modification of a license would result in its re-categorization from Tier 1 or 2 to Tier 3 under § 960.6, the Secretary shall consult with the Secretaries of Defense or State, as appropriate, to determine whether approval of the request would require additional temporary conditions in accordance with the procedures in § 960.10. If so, the Secretary shall notify the licensee that approval would require such additional temporary conditions, and provide the licensee an opportunity to withdraw or revise the request. (d) The Secretary shall approve or deny a modification request after consultation with the Secretaries of Defense and State as appropriate, and shall inform the licensee of the approval or denial within 60 days of the request, unless the Secretary and the applicant mutually agree to extend this review period.

15 C.F.R. § 960.14 Routine compliance and monitoring.

(a) Annually, by the date specified in the license, the licensee will certify in writing to the Secretary that each material fact in the license remains accurate. (b) If any material fact in the license is no longer accurate at the time the certification is due, the licensee must: (1) Provide all accurate material facts; (2) Explain the reason for any discrepancies between the terms in the license and the accurate material fact; and (3) Seek guidance from the Secretary on how to correct any errors, which may include requesting a license modification.

15 C.F.R. § 960.15 Term of license.

(a) The license term begins when the Secretary transmits the signed license to the licensee, regardless of the operational status of the system. (b) The license is valid until the Secretary confirms in writing that the license is terminated, because the Secretary has determined that one of the following has occurred: (1) The licensee has successfully disposed of, or has taken all actions necessary to successfully dispose of, all on-orbit components of the system, and is in compliance with all other requirements of the Act, this part, and the license; (2) The licensee never had system components on orbit and has requested to end the license term; (3) The license is terminated pursuant to § 960.17; or (4) The licensee has executed one of the following transfers, subsequent to the Secretary's approval of such transfer: (i) Ownership of the system, or the operations thereof, to an agency or instrumentality of the U.S. Government; or (ii) Operations to a person who is not a U.S. person and who will not operate the system from the United States.

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