15 C.F.R. Subpart B—Licenses
Title 15 - Commerce and Foreign Trade
No person subject to the jurisdiction and/or control of the United States may operate a private remote sensing space system without a license issued pursuant to this part. (a) Filing instructions, as well as a list of information to be included in the license application, are included in Appendix 1 of this part. (b) If information in an application becomes inaccurate or incomplete prior to issuance of the license, the applicant must, within 14 days, file the new or corrected information with the Assistant Administrator. If new or revised information is filed during the application process, the Assistant Administrator shall, within fourteen (14) days, determine whether the deadline imposed by Section 201(c) of the Act and §960.6(a) must be extended to allow adequate review of the revised application and, if so, for how long. (a) Any proprietary information related to a license application, application for amendment, foreign agreement, or any other supporting documentation submitted to NOAA will be treated as business confidential or proprietary information, if that information is explicitly designated and marked as such by the submitter. This does not preclude the United States Government from citing information in the public domain provided by the licensee in another venue (e.g., the licensee's Web site or a press release). (b) Within thirty (30) days of the issuance of a license to operate a remote sensing space system, the licensee shall provide the Assistant Administrator with a publicly-releasable summary of the licensed system. The summary must be submitted in a readily reproducible form accompanied by a copy on electronic media. This summary shall be available for public review at a location designated by the Assistant Administrator and shall include: (1) The name, mailing address and telephone number of the licensee and any affiliates or subsidiaries; (2) A general description of the system, its orbit(s) and the type of data to be acquired; and (3) The name and address upon whom service of all documents may be made. The following procedures are consistent and have been harmonized with those procedures, including time lines, described in the Fact Sheet, at Appendix 2 of this part, which governs in lieu of this section and §§960.7 and 960.8 with respect to the process for reaching determinations of conditions necessary to meet national security, international obligations and foreign policy and which is outside the scope of the regulations in this part. (a) The Assistant Administrator shall, within three (3) working days of receipt of an application, forward a copy of the application to the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of the Interior, and any other Federal agencies determined to have a substantial interest in the license application. The Assistant Administrator shall advise such agencies of the deadline prescribed by paragraph (b) of this section to require additional information from the applicant. The Assistant Administrator shall make a determination on the application, in accordance with the Act and section 960.1(b), within 120 days of its receipt. If a determination has not been made within 120 days, the Assistant Administrator shall inform the applicant of any pending issues and any action required to resolve them. (b) The reviewing agencies have thirty (30) days from receipt of application to notify the Assistant Administrator in writing whether the application omits any of the information listed in Appendix 1 of this part or whether additional information may be necessary to complete the application. This notification shall state the specific reasons why the additional information is sought. The Assistant Administrator shall then notify the applicant, in writing, what information is required to complete the license application. The 120-day review period prescribed in Section 201(c) of the Act will be stopped until the Assistant Administrator determines that the license application is complete. (c) Within thirty (30) days of receipt of a complete application, as determined by the Assistant Administrator, each Federal agency consulted in paragraph (a) of this section shall recommend, in writing, to the Assistant Administrator approval or disapproval of the application in writing. If a reviewing agency is unable to complete its review in thirty (30) days, it is required to notify NOAA prior to the expiration of the interagency review period, in writing, of the reason for its delay and provide an estimate of additional time necessary to complete the review. (d) If the license application is denied, the Assistant Administrator shall provide the applicant with written notification along with a concise statement of the facts in the record determined to support the denial. This denial will be considered final agency action twenty-one (21) days after the date the notice was mailed, unless the applicant files an appeal, as provided in §960.10. (e) The Assistant Administrator shall terminate the license application review process if: (1) The application is withdrawn before the decision approving or denying it is issued; or (2) The applicant, after receiving a request for additional information pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, does not provide such information within the time stated in the request. (f) No license shall be granted by the Secretary unless the Secretary determines, in writing, that the applicant will comply with the requirements of the Act, any regulations issued pursuant to the Act, and that the granting of such license and the operation of the license and system by the licensee would be consistent with the national security interest, foreign policy and international obligations of the United States. (a) Prior to taking any of the following actions a licensee must obtain an amendment to the license: (1) Assignment of any interest in or transfer of the license from one entity to another, renaming, or any change in identity of the license holder; (2) Change in or transfer of administrative control; (3) Change of operational control; or (4) Deviation from orbital characteristics, performance specifications, data collection and exploitation capabilities, operational characteristics identified under Appendix 1. of this part, or any other change in license parameters. (b) Applications for an amendment to an existing license shall contain all relevant new information and shall be filed at the same address identified in Appendix 1 of this part. Amendment applications shall be filed in accordance with the procedures in §960.4 and Appendix 1 of this part for original license applications. (c) The Assistant Administrator shall, within three (3) working days of receipt of an application for amendment, forward a copy of the application to the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of the Interior, and any other Federal agencies determined to have a substantial interest in the application. The Assistant Administrator shall advise such agencies of the deadline prescribed by paragraph (d) of this section to require additional information from the licensee. The Assistant Administrator shall make a determination on the application, in accordance with the Act and §960.1(b), within 120 days of its receipt. If a determination has not been made within 120 days, the Assistant Administrator shall inform the licensee of any pending issues and any actions necessary to resolve them. (d) The reviewing agencies have thirty (30) days from receipt of the application for amendment to notify the Assistant Administrator in writing whether the request omits any of the information listed in Appendix 1 of this part or whether additional information may be necessary to complete the request. This notification shall state the specific reasons why the additional information is sought. The Assistant Administrator shall then notify the licensee, in writing, what information is required to complete the application. The 120-day review period prescribed in Section 201(c) of the Act will be stopped until the Assistant Administrator determines that the application request is complete. (e) Within thirty (30) days of receipt of a complete application for amendment, as determined by the Assistant Administrator, each Federal agency consulted in paragraph (c) of this section shall recommend, in writing, to the Assistant Administrator approval or disapproval of the application. If a reviewing agency is unable to complete its review in thirty (30) days, it is required to notify NOAA prior to the expiration of the interagency review period, in writing, of the reason for its delay and provide an estimate of additional time necessary to complete the review. (f)(1) When the licensee is seeking an amendment in order to transfer administrative control or change in the participation of the operations of the system to a foreign person or nation, pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of this section, the licensee must provide the following information: (i) The identity, residence and citizenship of the foreign person(s) or nation(s) who will acquire control; (ii) The licensee's proposed plan to ensure that the licensee will protect the operational control of the licensed system from foreign influence and prevent technology transfer that would adversely impact national security, foreign policy or international obligations; and (iii) Such additional information as the Assistant Administrator may prescribe as necessary or appropriate to protect the national security, foreign policy or international obligations of the United States. (2) Such an application for amendment will be reviewed to determine whether the foreign person(s) or nation(s) that will exercise administrative control of the licensee will take no action that impairs the national security interests, foreign policy or international obligations of the United States. (g) If the application for amendment is denied, the Assistant Administrator shall provide the licensee with written notification along with a concise statement of the facts in the record determined to support the denial. This denial will be considered final agency action twenty-one (21) days after the date the notice was mailed, unless the licensee files an appeal, as provided in §960.10. (h) The Assistant Administrator shall terminate the application for amendment review process if: (1) The application is withdrawn before the decision approving or denying it is issued; or (2) The licensee, after receiving a request for additional information pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section, does not provide such information within the time stated in the request. Licensees must notify the Assistant Administrator of any significant or substantial agreement that they intend to enter into with any foreign nation, entity, or consortium, not later than sixty (60) days prior to concluding the agreement. (a) Upon notification by a licensee, pursuant to §960.11(b)(5), the Assistant Administrator shall initiate review of the proposed agreement in light of the national security interests, foreign policy and international obligations of the U.S. Government. (b) The Assistant Administrator shall, within three (3) working days of receipt of a proposed foreign agreement, forward a copy of the foreign agreement to the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of the Interior, and any other Federal agencies determined to have a substantial interest in the foreign agreement. The Assistant Administrator, in consultation with other appropriate agencies, will review the proposed foreign agreement. As part of this review, the Assistant Administrator will ensure that the proposed foreign agreement contains the appropriate provisions to ensure compliance with all requirements concerning national security interests, foreign policy and international obligations under the Act or the licensee's ability to comply with the Act, these regulations and the terms of the license. These requirements include: (1) The ability to implement, as appropriate, restrictions on the foreign party's acquisition and dissemination of imagery as imposed by the license or by the Secretary; (2) The obligations of the licensee to provide access to data for the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive; and (3) The obligations of the licensee to convey to the foreign party the license's reporting and recordkeeping requirements and to facilitate any monitoring and compliance activities identified in the license. (c) Within thirty (30) days of receipt of the proposed agreement, other agencies reviewing the agreement will notify the Assistant Administrator that the proposed agreement sufficiently addresses the requirements in paragraph (b) of this section or identify what changes will need to be made to the agreement to meet these requirements. (d)(1) Within sixty (60) days of notification by the licensee, if the Assistant Administrator determines that a proposed agreement will impair his or her ability to enforce the Act, or the licensee's ability to comply with the Act, these regulations, or the terms or conditions of the license, the licensee will be notified which terms and conditions of the license are affected and, specifically, how the agreement impairs their enforcement. (2) The proposed agreement may not be implemented by the licensee until the licensee has been advised by the Assistant Administrator that the provisions of the proposed agreement are acceptable. (e) The licensee is required to provide NOAA a signed copy of the foreign agreement within thirty (30) days of signature. (f) Following approval of the agreement, if the factual circumstances surrounding this transaction change, the licensee must notify NOAA within twenty-one (21) days of the change. The licensee's failure to notify NOAA in a timely manner may result in penalties for noncompliance being levied, pursuant to Section 203(a)(3) of the Act. (g) A licensee seeking to enter into a foreign agreement that would require the modification of the terms of an existing license shall also submit a license amendment request and the proposed foreign agreement shall be considered in the context of the amendment review process. (a) Each license for operation of a system shall be valid for the operational lifetime of the system or until the Secretary determines that the licensee is not in compliance with the requirements of the Act, the regulations issued pursuant to the Act, the terms and conditions of the license, or that the licensee's activities or system operations are not consistent with the national security, foreign policy and international obligations of the United States. (b) The licensee shall notify the Assistant Administrator within seven (7) days of financial insolvency, dissolution, the demise of its system or of its decision to discontinue system operation. Upon notification, the Assistant Administrator will terminate the license. However, termination will not affect the obligations of the licensee with regard to provisions in its license, requiring the licensee to: (1) Provide data to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive for the basic data set; (2) Make data available to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive that the licensee intends to purge from its holdings; (3) Make data available to a sensed state; and (4) Restrict acquisition and dissemination of imagery as imposed by the license or by the Secretary; and (5) Manage the re-entry segment, including but not limited to, the disposal of the system. (c) The licensee shall notify the Assistant Administrator that specific actions leading to the development and operation of the licensed remote sensing space system have been completed. If the Assistant Administrator determines that a licensee has not completed such actions with respect to a licensed system, he/she may terminate the license. The actions required to be taken and associated timelines are as follows: (1) Presentation to NOAA of the following formal review materials within five (5) years of the license issuance: (i) Preliminary Design Review, and (ii) Critical Design Review. (2) Licensee certification to NOAA of the following milestones within five (5) years of the Critical Design Review: (i) Execution of a binding contract for launch services, and (ii) Completion of the pre-ship review of the remote sensing payload. (3) Remote sensing space systems currently licensed by NOAA will have five (5) years from the effective date of these regulations to meet the milestones in Section 960.9(c)(1). (a) An applicant or licensee may submit a written appeal to the Administrator involving the granting, denial, or conditioning of a license; a license amendment; a foreign agreement; or enforcement action under this part. The appeal must state the action(s) appealed, must set forth a detailed explanation of the reasons for the appeal, and must be submitted within twenty-one (21) days of the action appealed. The appellant may request a hearing on the appeal before a designated hearing officer. (b) The hearing shall be held no later than thirty (30) days after receipt of the appeal, unless the hearing officer extends the time. The appellant and other interested persons may appear personally or by counsel and submit information and present arguments, as determined appropriate by the hearing officer. Hearings may be closed to the public as necessary to protect classified or proprietary information. Hearings shall be transcribed, and transcripts made available to the public, as required by statute. Classified and proprietary information shall not be included in the public transcripts. Within thirty (30) days of the conclusion of the hearing, the hearing officer shall recommend a decision to the Administrator. (c) The hearing requested under paragraph (a) of this section may be granted unless the issues being appealed involve the conduct of military or foreign affairs functions. Determinations concerning limitations on data collection or distribution, license conditions, or enforcement actions necessary to meet national security concerns, foreign policies or international obligations are not subject to a hearing under this Section. A determination to deny an appeal/hearing on this basis shall constitute final agency action. (d) The Administrator may adopt the hearing officer's recommended decision or may reject or modify it. The Administrator will notify the appellant of the decision, and the reason(s) therefore, in writing, within thirty (30) days of receipt of the hearing officer's recommended decision. The Administrator's action shall constitute final Agency action. (e) Any time limit prescribed in this section may be extended for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days by the Administrator for good cause, upon his/her own motion or written request from the appellant. (f) The licensee shall be entitled to an expedited hearing on the review of a foreign agreement if the request is filed with the Administrator within seven (7) days of the date of mailing of the Assistant Administrator's notice under §960.8(d)(1). The request shall set forth the licensee's response to the determinations contained in the notice, and demonstrate that the time necessary to complete the normal hearing process will jeopardize the agreement. (1) Expedited hearings shall commence within five (5) days after the filing of the request with the Administrator unless the Administrator or the hearing officer postpones the date of the hearing or the parties agree that it shall commence at a later time. (2) Within five (5) days of the conclusion of the hearing, the hearing officer shall prepare findings and conclusions for consideration by the Administrator. (3) Within fourteen (14) days after receipt of such material, the Administrator shall issue his/her findings and conclusions and a statement of the reasons on which they are based. This decision constitutes final agency action. (a) Each license issued for the operation of a system shall require the licensee to comply with the Act and the regulations in this part. The licensee shall ensure that its license information is kept current and accurate. A licensee's failure to notify NOAA in a timely manner of any changes to that information on which the determination to issue the license or a subsequent licensing action was or will be made may result in penalties for noncompliance being levied, pursuant to Section 203(a)(3) of the Act (b) The following conditions, as a minimum, shall be included in all licenses: (1) The licensee shall operate its system in a manner that preserves the national security and observes the foreign policy and international obligations of the United States. Specific limitations on operational performance, including, but not limited to, limitations on data collection and dissemination, as appropriate, will be specified in each license. (2) The licensee shall maintain operational control from a location within the United States at all times, including the ability to override all commands issued by any operations centers or stations. (3) The licensee will maintain and make available to the Assistant Administrator records of system tasking, operations and other data as specified in the license for the purposes of monitoring and compliance. Periodic reporting and record keeping requirements will be specified in the license. The licensee shall allow the Assistant Administrator access, at all reasonable times, to all facilities which comprise the remote sensing space system for the purpose of conducting license monitoring and compliance inspections. (4) The licensee may be required by the Secretary to limit data collection and/or distribution by the system as determined to be necessary to meet significant national security or significant foreign policy concerns, or international obligations of the United States, in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Interagency MOU Fact Sheet found in Appendix 2 of this part. During such limitations, the licensee shall, on request, provide unenhanced restricted images on a commercial basis exclusively to the U.S. Government using U.S. government-approved rekeyable encryption on the down-link and shall use a data down-link format that allows the U.S. Government access to these data during such periods. (5) A licensee shall notify the Assistant Administrator of its intent to enter into any significant or substantial foreign agreement, and shall submit this agreement for review in accordance with §960.8. The proposed agreement may not be implemented by the licensee until the licensee has been advised by the Assistant Administrator that the document's provisions are acceptable. (i) Notification of any agreement that provides for an on-going or a continuous relationship serves as notification of specific transactions carried out within the scope of that agreement for purposes of the regulations in this part and the Act. Such notification does not relieve a licensee of any obligation under any other laws including U.S. export laws or regulations to secure necessary U.S. Government authorizations and/or licenses, to provide notification, or to comply with other requirements. (ii) A licensee seeking to enter a foreign agreement that would require the modification of the terms of an existing license shall submit a license amendment, as provided in §960.7. (6) In accordance with Section 201(e) of the Act and §960.12, a licensee shall make available on reasonable commercial terms and conditions, in accordance with the Act and §960.12, any unenhanced data designated by the Assistant Administrator. (7) A licensee shall provide to the U.S. Government, upon request, a complete list of all archived, unenhanced data which has been generated by its licensed system which is not already maintained in a public catalog. Any information on this list which is deemed proprietary by the licensee should be so noted by the licensee when the list is provided to the U.S. Government. (8) A licensee shall make available unenhanced data requested by the Department of the Interior on reasonable cost terms and conditions as agreed by the licensee and the Department of the Interior. After the expiration of any exclusive right to sell, or after an agreed amount of time, the Department of Interior shall make these data available to the public at the cost of fulfilling user requests. (9) Before purging any licensed data in its possession, the licensee shall offer such data to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive at the cost of reproduction and transmission. The Department of the Interior shall make these data available immediately to the public at the cost of fulfilling user requests. (10) A licensee shall make available to the government of any country (including the United States) upon request by that government, unenhanced data collected by its system concerning the territory under the jurisdiction of such government. The data shall be provided as soon as the licensee is able to distribute the data commercially or as soon as the licensee has processed them into a format that the licensee uses for its own purposes, whichever occurs sooner, on reasonable terms and conditions. However, no data shall be provided to the sensed state if such release is contrary to U.S. national security concerns, foreign policy or international obligations or is otherwise prohibited by law, e.g. where transactions with the sensed state are prohibited by the laws of the United States. The U.S. Government may require, as a specific license condition, coordination with NOAA prior to fulfilling specific sensed state requests for unenhanced data. (11) A licensee shall inform the Assistant Administrator immediately of any operational deviation or proposed deviation of the system which would violate the conditions of the license. If advance notice is not possible because of an emergency posing an imminent and substantial threat to human life, property, the environment or the system itself, the licensee shall notify the Assistant Administrator of the deviation as soon as circumstances permit. (12) A licensee shall dispose of any satellites operated by the licensee upon termination of operations under the license in a manner satisfactory to the President. The licensee shall obtain approval from the Assistant Administrator of all plans and procedures for the disposition of satellites as part of the application process. (13) The licensee shall submit a Data Protection Plan to the Assistant Administrator for review and approval. The licensee's Data Protection Plan shall contain the process to protect data and information throughout the entire cycle of tasking, operations, processing, archiving and dissemination. (i) If the operating license restricts the distribution of certain data and imagery to the U.S. Government or U.S. Government-approved customers, including data whose public distribution is limited for 24 hours after collection, the Data Protection Plan should also provide for secure delivery of restricted data and imagery to U.S. Government-approved customer facilities. (ii) Communications links that may require protection include, but are not limited to: Telemetry, tracking and commanding; narrowband and wideband data, including satellite platform and sensor data, imagery, and metadata; and terrestrial delivery methods including electronic and physical package delivery. (iii) The licensee's Data Protection Plan must be approved by NOAA before the licensee's remote sensing space system may be launched. NOAA encourages the licensee's early submission and review of the Data Protection Plan to avoid any negative impacts on its system's development and launch schedule. (iv) The Assistant Administrator may require the licensee to revise its Data Protection Plan if the system is altered from what was originally licensed. (14) A license is not an asset of the licensee and shall not be mortgaged, sold or pledged as collateral. (c) The Assistant Administrator may waive any of the conditions in §960.11(b) upon a showing of good cause and following consultations with the appropriate agencies. (a) In accordance with the Act, if the U.S. Government has or will directly fund all or a substantial part of the development, fabrication, launch, or operation costs of a licensed system, the license shall require that all of the unenhanced data from the system be made available on a nondiscriminatory basis except on the basis of national security, foreign policy or international obligations. (b) If the U.S. Government has not funded and will not fund, either directly or indirectly, any of the development, fabrication, launch, or operations costs of a licensed system, the licensee may provide access to its unenhanced data in accordance with reasonable commercial terms and conditions, subject to the requirement of providing data to the government of any sensed state, pursuant to §960.11(b)(10). (c) If the U.S. Government has (either directly or indirectly) funded some of the development, fabrication, launch, or operations costs of a licensed system, the Assistant Administrator, in consultation with other appropriate U.S. agencies, shall, subject to national security concerns, determine whether the interest of the United States in promoting widespread availability of remote sensing data on reasonable cost terms and conditions requires that some or all of the unenhanced data from the system be made available on a nondiscriminatory basis in accordance with the Act. The license shall specify any data subject to this requirement. In making this determination, the Assistant Administrator may consider: (1) The extent and proportion of private and Federal funding of the system; (2) The extent of the governmental versus the commercial market for the unenhanced data; (3) The effect of a nondiscriminatory data access designation on the applicant's commercial activity; (4) The extent to which the applicant's proposed commercial data policies would encourage foreign operators to limit access, particularly for research and public benefit purposes; or (5) The extent to which the U.S. interest in promoting widespread data availability can be satisfied through license conditions that ensure access to the data for non-commercial scientific, educational, or other public benefit purposes.
Title 15: Commerce and Foreign Trade
PART 960—LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS
Subpart B—Licenses
§ 960.4 Application.
§ 960.5 Confidentiality of information.
§ 960.6 Review procedures for license applications.
§ 960.7 Amendments to licenses.
§ 960.8 Notification of foreign agreements.
§ 960.9 License term.
§ 960.10 Appeals/hearings.
§ 960.11 Conditions for operation.
§ 960.12 Data policy for remote sensing space systems.
