International Traffic in Arms Regulations Licensing Reform Act

This legislation directs the Secretary of State to implement a new system for licensing the export of defense articles and services, focusing on establishing expedited and fixed timelines for decision-making. Within 90 days of enactment, the Secretary must develop and maintain a list of countries and end-users whose expedited processing is deemed vital to U.S. national security, submitting this list annually to Congress. Following the creation of this list, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, must initiate a rulemaking process to set specific decision timelines. Applications for exports to listed countries or end-users must be approved, returned, or denied within 45 days , while all other applications are subject to a 60-day timeline. These deadlines can be suspended for congressional review periods or for necessary Department of Defense approvals, including technology security determinations. To ensure accountability, the bill mandates that the Secretary of State submit semi-annual reports to Congress. These reports must identify any applications that exceeded the established deadlines, detailing the defense articles involved, the recipient country and end-user, and providing a justification for the delay. The reports must also include an anticipated timeline for any still-pending applications.