Executive Order 13020: Amendment to Executive Order 12981
President: Bill Clinton
Required interagency majority votes and specified appeals for certain commercial satellite and aircraft-engine technologies moved to Commerce licensing.
Status: Revoked. Is Executive Order 13020 still in effect? No. Executive Order 13020 was revoked. See Federal Register record.
What does Executive Order 13020 do?
EO 13020 amended EO 12981’s interagency license-review process for commercial communications satellites and aircraft-engine hot-section technology transferred from the Munitions List to the Commerce Control List. It substituted majority decisions at the Operating Committee and Advisory Committee on Export Policy for those cases and retained short appeal deadlines. Congress later returned commercial satellites to the Munitions List, then authorized case-by-case transfer again, while the 2018 Export Control Reform Act supplied permanent statutory authority for today’s Commerce controls. Current classifications and EAR or ITAR procedures, not the 1996 categories alone, govern exports now.
Before and after
Before the order
EO 12981’s normal chair-led review rules applied to the transferred technologies.
After the order
Specified satellite and engine cases used committee majority votes with accelerated appeals.
Who had to do what
| Agency / office | Action | Timing / position |
|---|---|---|
| Operating Committee | Vote on covered disputed applications | Under the historical classification |
| ACEP | Resolve timely interagency appeals | Under the historical procedure |
| Commerce Secretary | Handle any final departmental appeal | As provided by the parent order |
What happened next
EO 12981 established the export-licensing review process.
EO 13020 added special procedures.
Legal and source detail
How it works legally
Export classification and licensing rest on current statutes, the EAR and the ITAR. The order creates no right to a license or judicial review.
Sources by type
If a source is unavailable, first check the cited publisher or another official repository. The cited publisher remains the authority.
Primary and official sources
Orders, laws, court records and official implementation material.
- GovInfo — EO 13020 (opens in a new tab) Order text
- BIS — Export Administration Regulations (opens in a new tab) Official record
How we checked this
Last checked against the sources above on September 14, 2026. How we research →