The State Department is formally advancing revisions to DSP-85, the application required for commercial exports and temporary imports of classified defense articles and technical data, only months after the Office of Management and Budget renewed the existing information collection.
The department now projects 280 applications annually, nearly four times the 74 responses covered by OMB’s April 2026 approval. Estimated annual burden would rise correspondingly from 37 to 140 hours, while the estimated completion time remains 30 minutes per application.
The filing is a Paperwork Reduction Act notice, not a change to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations or approval of any particular defense transaction. Its immediate significance lies in the substantially higher projected volume of classified commercial defense-trade applications.
State does not explain whether the increase reflects rising transaction activity, expanded coverage, a revised counting method or another operational assumption.
The department acknowledged public recommendations to account more fully for preparation time, expand electronic processing, improve applicant guidance and transparency, and reuse information from previous submissions. It said it would continue evaluating those measures but announced no firm changes or timetable.
Comments are expected to be due September 30, 2026, 30 days after the notice’s scheduled August 31 publication. August 2026 public-inspection notice
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here