Although I am not a mathematician, I have recently discovered (with the help of a regular reader) some new imaginary numbers other than those well known imaginary numbers that are the square roots of negative numbers. The new imaginary number can be found on the list of final commodity jurisdiction determinations published by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”).

Three entries on the list, two for a high mobility electron transistor (“HMET”) and one for a microwave monolithic integrated circuit (“MMIC”), indicate that the correct classification for these items is ECCN 3A982. The problem is that there is no ECCN 3A982, and there has never been, at least that I could find.

I have an idea of what might have happened. I think this is a typo for ECCN 3A991 which covers “[e]lectronic devices and components not controlled by 3A001,” which is where some MMICs and HMETs are classified. ECCN 3A991 immediately follows ECCN 3A981, so somebody at DDTC more or less renumber 3A991 as 3A982. Anybody have a better theory about what happened?

And. although I love the new final determination list and applaud DDTC for putting it on line, please allow me one final quibble and I’ll never say another negative thing about the list. For some reason, the page that has the list will not open up in Chrome. On behalf of Chrome users everywhere (and we now are 18 percent of all browser users), it would be nice if this could be fixed.

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