The amendments to the SAFE bill offered at the International Relations Committee on July 13 included:

• Drug trafficking consultation

  The Committee adopted an amendment sponsored by Chairman Gilman, as narrowed by Rep. Gejdensen, that would require that the Attorney General, the FBI Director and the DEA Administrator be consulted in the review of all exports of encryption products to "any major drug-transit country or major illicit drug producing country."

• "Generally available"

  An amendment sponsored by Rep. Berman making a slight change to the definition of "generally available" encryption products was adopted.

• Maintaining other grounds for export control

  The Committee adopted an amendment sponsored by Chairman Gilman that would ensure the Secretary of Commerce retains the power to control the export of an encryption product for any reason other than its encryption capabilities.

• Thirty day review

  Another amendment that was adopted would extend the technical review period for encryption products to 30 days from the 15 days in the original bill.

• Specific denials

  Adopted after the Committe accepted a narrowing change proposed by Rep. Gejdensen, this amendment (an en bloc amendment combining four separate amendments) would allow the Secretary to ban the export of specific encryption products to an individual, entity or country if there is "credible evidence" that such products will be used: for military, terrorist, or criminal use; to facilitate the import of illegal drugs into the US; in the manufacture or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; or in connection with the sexual exploitation of children, and also would ban export to the People's Republic of China and the Chinese military.

• Government requiring contractors to use key-recovery

  The Committee adopted an amendment offered by Rep. Berman to allow the government to require the use of key recovery by non-governmental contractors that are assisting national security or law enforcement activities. A similar, although broader, amendment was approved by the Commerce Committee.

• Credible evidence

  The Committee adopted an amendment lowering the bill's standard for denial of export relief from "substantial evidence" to "credible evidence."

• Enforcement of multilateral export control regimes

  An amendment sponsored by Rep. Berman that would have restricted encryption exports under multilateral agreements (e.g., Wassenaar) was defeated by a 15-22 vote.