Vice President Gore offered an executive order that would ease export restrictions by 1) raising the export limit from 40 bits to 56 bits for at least the next two years (allowing U.S. companies to meet the current minimum commercial standard); 2) transferring export-license authority from a State Department military office, which almost always refuses applications, to the more friendly Commerce Department; 3) permitting export of encryption of unlimited strength, provided the technology incorporates key recovery . This is similar to key escrow, except there is no single key and the government holds nothing.
Export limits being raised from 40 to 46 bits over the course of the next 2 years was part of the relaxed export restrictions offered in Vice President Gore's executive order.