Standard Licensing

Authorization Approvals
Commerce Department Approvals

  The Commerce Department licenses their activities slightly differently from the Department of State. There is not a need to obtain a separate license for permanent, temporary exports or imports — they are all done under the same form using the same process.

The Commerce Department has a series of exceptions to the need for a license and these are frequently more accessible than the Department of States exemptions.

Similar to the classification system of the Department of State, each item on the Commerce Control List (CCL) is categorized. Then the CCL drills down into a series of sub-categories to eventually given a number corresponding with controls. The controls are based on current National Security Policy and are broken down by country and the need for that control. For instance controls on anti-terrorism articles may be very different in France then they are in Afghanistan or Iraq.