Washington — The U.S. Department of Commerce is inviting comments through August 18 about how it could improve and modernize its “deemed-export” regulations. They restrict citizens of certain countries, like China and Iran, who are studying at American universities from participating in research projects with military applications.

The existing rules are ineffective and wasteful, concluded an advisory committee made up of academic and industry leaders in a report last December. The department is exploring revisions, including ones that “let universities be universities,” said Mario Mancuso, an under secretary in the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees the regulations, in an interview today with The Chronicle.

Officials hope to complete the review and propose concrete changes before President Bush leaves office, in January, Mr. Mancuso said. That is an ambitious timetable, he conceded, because other federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense and State, will also weigh in on changes.

In the May 19 Federal Register, the department invited comment on several issues, including whether it should shorten or modify the list of technologies that fall under the deemed-export rules. Mr. Mancuso said he expected the department would name by mid-August an advisory committee, which will include university representatives, to quickly examine that issue.

The deemed-export rules contain an exemption for “fundamental” research, but some college officials say the Commerce Department has interpreted too many university studies as falling outside the exemption. Mr. Mancuso acknowledged universities’ frustration over the rules and called the exemption “sacrosanct.” He said the department wanted to strike the proper balance between protecting vital secrets and attracting the most-talented scientists to work in American laboratories. That, in turn, he said, benefits America’s national security. —Jeffrey Brainard