Regulatory Basics

Occurrence

 There are many ways to export an item, information, or service. Employees should be aware of the ways an export may occur. Even in everyday conversation and exchange of information and ideas is possible. The U.S. Government considers some of that information and those ideas as controlled, so it is important to understand the limits the export and import regulations place on an organization and individual. When talking to a Foreign National an individual or organization must be aware of what they are discussing, if there are any regulations related to it and how much detail they can discuss before they have crossed over into areas that require regulatory authorization. For example, if a former special forces solider is sharing "war stories" with a Foreign National, it is possible he is performing an export by providing details on how the U.S. Military operates in certain situations. Even if that Foreign National could read the same thing on the Internet — the former solider must be cautious and not provide any technical information or defense services in the simple conversation. Another example would be discussing shooting stances or handling a firearm — this information may be freely available to the public, but the Department of State considers any information related to firearms to be technical data, and therefore controlled.

The DoS regulates defense articles, technical data, and defense services as defined within the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR). The ITAR is 10 chapters of the Arms Export Control Act broken down for easier reference. Each chapter contains information related to definitions, imports, exports, violations, and penalties, etc. Definitions for terms related to the ITAR are located in section 120 of the ITAR. Defense articles are listed in the United States Munitions List (USML) with in the ITAR. The USML is located in section 121 of the ITAR. This list includes weapons and other items with military application and equipment designed or modified for use with military equipment (not just U.S. Military) and component parts and test/support equipment. It is important to note, just because an item does not appear by name on the USML, it does not mean that it is not controlled by the DoS — further investigation must be done by your export expert.

There are many places an individual may access further information about the regulations and how to adhere to them. The Society for International Affairs (SIA) is a good resource for compliance professionals. SIA offers training sessions throughout the year and those sessions are an excellent place to meet with the DoS licensing and agreement officers and to work on developing one on one relationships with those individuals within the DoS that will be handling your applications.