Revision of High Performance Computer Licensing Policy

The Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by raising the performance parameters for those computers which can be exported and reexported under License Exception CTP. The upper threshold of the Composite Theoretical Performance (CTP) parameter for Computer Tier 2 countries is raised from 10,000 millions of theoretical operations per second (MTOPS) to 20,000 MTOPS. The upper threshold for Computer Tier 3 countries is raised from 7,000 MTOPS to 12,300 MTOPS for civilian end- users and end-uses. For military end-users and end-uses in Computer Tier 3 destinations the CTP parameter remains at 2,000 MTOPS for the immediate future. The upper parameter for military end-users and end- uses to Computer Tier 3 countries will be raised from 2,000 MTOPS to 6,500 MTOPS on the same date the threshold for advance notification for high performance computers (HPC) exports to Tier 3 countries is raised from 2,000 MTOPS to 6,500 MTOPS. The threshold for advance notification for exports of HPCs to Tier 3 countries is raised to 6,500 MTOPS, effective approximately 180 days following the submission of a statutorily mandated report to Congress. The President sent this report to Congress on July 26, 1999. In addition, the following countries are moved from Computer Tier 2 to Computer Tier 1: Brazil, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland.