Standard Licensing

Authorization Approvals
USG Approvals

  Much of the business TigerSwan engages in falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of State. There are multiple approvals that can be requested to support any given activity and in some cases multiple authorizations are required to support a single activity. Your export expert will know and understand the types of authorizations that must be obtained to support a program or contract. This section outlines the type of applications, which must be obtained from the Department of State prior to engaging in a controlled activity.

Technical Assistance Agreement
A Technical Assistance Agreement (TAA) is an agreement between the U.S. applicant and the foreign party for the performance of a defense service(s) or the disclosure of technical data. A good example of the need for a TAA would be training a Foreign Military in techniques such as search and rescue or hostage rescue. A Technical Assistance Agreement allows the parties to exchange information back and forth as long as that information is within the "scope" of the TAA.

Sometimes after receiving your TAA approval you will need to amend that approval to broaden the scope or add additional parties to your base approval. This is called an Amendment.

Manufacturing License Agreement
A Manufacturing License Agreement (MLA) is an agreement (e.g., contract) whereby a "U.S. Person" grants a "Foreign Person" an authorization to manufacture "defense articles" abroad (i.e., granting specific manufacturing rights).

Both TAAs and MLAs can provide for the export of defense articles. A good example of the need for a MLA is if a company wishes to build parts and components for a defense article, such as an armored tank or missile in a foreign country.

DSP Type License
The DSP type licenses are for Permanent Exports, Temporary Exports, Classified Exports or Temporary Imports. Dependant upon the activity an organization wishes to engage, they must obtain one of these authorizations prior to taking any action to move defense articles or technical data or provide defense services to a foreign party. Most often your organization will require DSP-5 or Permanent Export Licenses for the transfer of Technical Data or Defense Articles. Occasionally you may require a DSP-73 type license — this allows for the Temporary Export of materials. Examples for using these types of licenses would be the need to permanently export ammunition for a training class overseas. The ammunition is never going to come back because it will be consumed during the class. However, the company may wish to send instructors over with firearms to demonstrate during training, and the company may want those firearms back after training is over — the company could then obtain a temporary export license to send the firearms overseas and then bring them back.

The ITAR contains about 50 licensing "exemptions" (i.e., the ability to export without securing the prior review and approval from DTC through the issuance of a license or agreement). The EAR has similar provisions known as "License Exceptions." Using an ITAR exemption or an EAR License Exception imposes special compliance procedures. Prior Company approval is required for the use of license exemptions/exceptions. Exemptions and Exceptions are complicated to implement. There may be additional requirements such as reporting every six months that create too large of a burden on your organization to implement them. Only your export expert should make a determination if the exemption or exception is applicable and if your organization has the authorization to implement it.

The EAR has a similar set of export licenses and other forms required in connection with obtaining export approval.

In order to obtain the correct authorization it is important that you include your compliance professional in all stages of planning an activity. The sooner the compliance professional is involved the faster your correct authorization may be obtained.