Saudi Arabia and Peru join the ITAR ally list as Ethiopia comes off the denial list

The State Department has added Saudi Arabia and Peru to the list of designated major non-NATO allies, and removed Ethiopia from the countries subject to an arms export policy of denial. Both changes took effect on September 18, 2026, the day the rule was published. There is no transition period.

The vehicle is a final rule amending the International Traffic in Arms Regulations at 22 CFR parts 120, 123, 125 and 126. It carries RIN 1400-AG31 and the docket identifier Public Notice 13121. It appears in the Federal Register at 91 FR 59059 and runs five pages, 59059 to 59063. The DATES line reads in full: "This rule is effective on September 18, 2026."

The rule does four things: it rewrites the policy-of-denial wording, takes Ethiopia out of it, updates the ally list, and deletes a certificate requirement from the Canadian exemptions that contradicted another section of the same regulations.

What a seat on the ally list is worth

The list at 22 CFR 120.23 held 19 countries before the rule. It holds 21 now. Nothing was taken off. Saudi Arabia becomes the ninth country on it from the Middle East and North Africa, alongside Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar and Tunisia. Peru becomes the fourth from Latin America, after Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. Taiwan is separately treated as though it were designated, and is not counted in the 21.

The status is not ceremonial. Under 22 CFR 123.27, a registered exporter may file for multiple permanent exports, temporary exports and temporary imports of commercial communications satellite components and associated technical data for expeditious consideration, but only where the exports concern NATO countries and designated major non-NATO allies exclusively. Inside that regime the exporter does not have to meet the purchase order, letter of intent, contract and nontransfer and end-use certificate requirements of 22 CFR 123.1(c)(4) and (5), or the reexport and retransfer documentary requirements of 22 CFR 123.9.

The ceiling is written in dollars. The regime does not reach major defense equipment sold under a contract of $14,000,000 or more, or defense articles or defense services sold under a contract of $50,000,000 or more. Those still go on a separate licence application so Congress can be notified under section 36(c) of the Arms Export Control Act, and exporters may not split contracts or purchase orders to get under the thresholds. Anyone using 123.27 must report complete shipment information to the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls within 15 days of shipment.

The President signed both designations in January. Saudi Arabia is Presidential Determination No. 2026-03 of January 13, 2026, and Peru is Presidential Determination No. 2026-04 of January 14, 2026, each a memorandum for the Secretary of State. Both were published together in the Federal Register of January 23, 2026, at 91 FR 3017 and 91 FR 3019.

"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 517 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2321k) (the 'Act'), I hereby designate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a Major Non-NATO Ally of the United States for the purposes of the Act and the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.)." - Presidential Determination No. 2026-03 of January 13, 2026

Roughly eight months separate those signatures from the amendment that put the two countries into the regulation exporters actually read.

What the rewrite changes on the page

The old 22 CFR 126.1(a) denied licences and other approvals for "exports and imports of defense articles and defense services, destined for or originating in certain countries". The amended text reads "exports, reexports, retransfers, and temporary imports". The exemptions paragraph, which said the subchapter's exemptions do not apply to articles originating in or for export to a proscribed destination, now says no transfer may be made under an exemption to or from any proscribed country, area or person.

The same widening runs through the exemption sections. 22 CFR 120.15(c) now bars exemptions for exports, reexports or retransfers to, or temporary imports originating from, a proscribed destination. 22 CFR 123.16(a) now covers exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports of unclassified defense articles rather than exports alone. 22 CFR 125.4(a) now bars the technical data exemptions "to or for" generally ineligible persons, which the rule says confirms that a person ineligible under 22 CFR 120.16 may not take part in any ITAR-controlled activity under them.

The country lists themselves barely moved. The comprehensive denial list at 126.1(d)(1) still holds the same eight: Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela. The qualified list at 126.1(d)(2) drops from 16 countries to 15, and Ethiopia is the only entry removed. Paragraph 126.1(n), which denied approvals for exports destined to the armed forces, police, intelligence or other internal security forces of Ethiopia, is removed and reserved. The rule says that implements a February 5, 2026 policy determination by the Secretary of State.

Issued without a comment period, and what it does not say

This was a final rule with an immediate effective date and no request for public comment.

"This rulemaking is exempt from the rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(1) as a military or foreign affairs function of the United States. As the provisions of section 553 do not apply to this rulemaking, the Department is publishing this rule with an immediate effective date and without a request for public comment." - Department of State, regulatory analysis section of the final rule

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs found the rulemaking is not a major rule under 5 U.S.C. 804(2), the Congressional Review Act threshold, but did designate it a significant regulatory action under Executive Order 12866. State does not expect an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more, and says the rule will not increase costs or prices.

The February 5, 2026 determination on Ethiopia is cited in the preamble but was not located as a published document, and a Federal Register search of State Department documents from January 1 to September 22, 2026 returns only this rule. The rule gives no explanation for the eight-month gap, and no record was located of the congressional notification the statute requires at least 30 days before a designation. There are no trade figures and no licence volumes for any of the three countries. Whether applications for Ethiopian security forces were pending, and what happens to them now, is not addressed. Nor is it clear whether Saudi Arabia or Peru has been added to the separately published list of approved persons and commercial communications satellite programs under 22 CFR 123.27. Being on the country list is a precondition, not the whole test.