IP Law Daily, TECHNOLOGY/INTERNET NEWS: Trump signs Export Control Transparency Act into law, (Aug 20, 2025)

By Geroge Basharis, J.D.

President enacts bipartisan legislation requiring annual congressional reporting on dual-use technology licensing decisions.

President Trump signed into law on August 19, 2025, the Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act, legislation that will require the Commerce Department to provide Congress with detailed annual reports on export license applications for sensitive technologies sent to covered entities in strategic competitor nations. The new law, H.R. 1316, amends the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 to mandate that the Secretary of Commerce submit annual reports to the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Banking Committee on licensing decisions for dual-use items controlled under export regulations.

Congressional push for oversight. The legislation emerged from congressional concerns that the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has historically approved most technology export licenses to China despite stated policies of denial. According to the bill sponsors, BIS approved 98 percent of U.S. software and technology export licenses to China in 2020 and authorized $100 billion in exports to blacklisted Chinese firms Huawei and SMIC between November 2020 and April 2021, despite a stated “presumption of denial” policy.

Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas, who led the House effort alongside Representative Sara Jacobs of California, characterized the law as essential to preventing cutting-edge technology from being acquired by adversaries. Senator Jim Banks of Indiana and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia championed the companion legislation in the Senate, with Banks noting that export controls “too often fail to prevent sensitive American technology from being sold to firms tied to the Chinese military.”

Reporting requirements and scope. Under the new law, the Commerce Department must provide Congress with comprehensive data on each license application for items controlled under export regulations when sent to covered entities. The required information includes the name of the entity submitting the application, a description of the item including its Export Control Classification Number and reason for control, the name and location of the end-user, a value estimate, the licensing decision, and the submission date.

The legislation also mandates reporting on the date, location and results of any end-use checks conducted to ensure compliance with U.S. export controls, along with aggregate statistics on all license applications and authorization requests. Covered entities are defined as those located in “Country Group D:5.” These are countries covered under the Export Administration Regulations and are included on either the Entity List or Unverified List maintained by the Commerce Department.

Confidentiality protections. The law includes provisions to protect sensitive information while enabling congressional oversight. All detailed information in the reports, except for aggregate statistics, will be exempt from public disclosure under existing statutory protections. The Commerce Department is specifically required to ensure that information potentially jeopardizing ongoing investigations is excluded from the reports.

Implementation. The Commerce Department has one year from the Act’s enactment date to submit its first report to Congress, with annual reports required thereafter subject to the availability of appropriations. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast praised the legislation as critical to winning the AI arms race, while Senator Warner emphasized the importance of protecting innovation that underpins national security and economic leadership.

The new transparency requirements represent a significant expansion of congressional oversight over export licensing decisions, particularly for technologies that could enhance the capabilities of strategic competitors. The legislation passed both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support before reaching President Trump's desk.

Challenges identified. The enactment of the transparency act comes as the Government Accountability Office has identified significant challenges within BIS’s operations. In a June 2025 report requested by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, GAO found that BIS lacks comprehensive long-term workforce planning despite substantial increases in workload demands since 2013.

According to the GAO analysis, BIS funding grew by $97 million between fiscal years 2013 and 2024, with funded positions increasing from 403 to 585. However, the bureau has not conducted comprehensive workforce planning since 2016 and assesses staffing needs only on an annual basis as part of budget requests. GAO noted that BIS workload has increased significantly, with export license applications processed rising 53 percent and Entity List additions increasing 151 percent since fiscal year 2013.

The accountability office also identified information-sharing problems that compromise the integrity of interagency export license reviews. Reviewing agencies from the Departments of Defense, Energy and State reported that BIS data systems do not provide ready access to all relevant information about export license applications, which are housed across multiple classified and unclassified systems. Officials from reviewing agencies told GAO that they sometimes recommended denial for applications solely to trigger the dispute resolution process where additional information becomes available.

Additionally, GAO found that BIS officials have removed export license conditions recommended by reviewing agencies without prior consultation, despite interagency agreements reached through the dispute resolution process. Defense Department officials identified seven licenses where BIS unilaterally removed conditions that had been agreed upon by the Operating Committee, the initial level of the escalation process for licensing disagreements.

Commerce Department officials concurred with all four GAO recommendations, including developing long-term workforce planning, facilitating access to relevant licensing information, consulting with reviewing agencies before changing license conditions, and clarifying written guidance for license condition usage.

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