This bill became law on 2025-08-19 as Public Law No. 119-34.
The summary below describes the bill at the version we last reviewed; the enacted text may differ.
YourVoice.Now Summary
Transparency & AccountabilityCongress now gets a yearly list of who asked to ship restricted goods abroad — the public will not.
Transparency & Accountability
The report goes to two committees: House Foreign Affairs and Senate Banking. It names each request to ship, the answer given, and what on-site checks found.
The names of the firms, the goods, and their value stay out of public view. Only overall totals may be shared, and Commerce must leave out anything that could hurt an open case.
More about this bill
Most people will see no change in daily life. The change is in what Congress gets told, not in what you pay or do. The Commerce Department decides who may ship sensitive American technology abroad. It must now report to Congress each year on those decisions, when money is available for it. The report covers sales requests aimed at foreign firms the government has already restricted. Those firms sit in countries under American arms embargoes. It names who asked, what they wanted to ship, where it was going, and whether the answer was yes. It also gives results of spot checks that confirm goods were used as promised. The public does not get those details. Only overall totals may be shared. The first report is due by August 2026.
Congressional Summary
Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act This act requires the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to annually report to Congress on export control licensing. Under current law, BIS administers and enforces controls on the export of dual-use goods (e.g., items with both civilian and military uses) and certain military parts and components. These export controls are implemented primarily under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA) through the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Under this act, BIS must annually report to Congress on license applications, other requests for authorization, and end-use checks (on-site verifications conducted by BIS) for the export, reexport, release, and in-country transfer of items subject to the EAR to covered entities. A covered entity is any entity that (1) is located in a country listed in Country Group D:5 (countries that are identified by the Department of State as subject to U.S. arms embargoes), and (2) is included on the Entity List or the Military End-User List (two of the lists published by BIS containing information on the individuals, organizations, and addresses subject to restrictions involving items subject to the EAR). The act requires this report to include specified information, such as the name of the entity submitting the application, where the item is being exported, the decision with respect to the license application or authorization, and information on any end-use checks to ensure compliance with U.S. export controls. The information shall be exempt from public disclosure (except for aggregate statistics). Additionally, BIS must exclude from the report any information that could jeopardize an ongoing investigation.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Public Law
- Action Date
- 2025-08-19
- Date Added
- 2026-06-19
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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