What Is Export Control?
Export control regulations are federal laws that prohibit the unlicensed export of certain commodities or information for reasons of national security or protections of trade. Export controls usually arise for one or more of the following reasons:
- The nature of the export has actual or potential military applications or economic protection issues.
- Government concerns about the destination country, organization, or individual.
- Government concerns about the declared or suspected end use or the end user of the export.
Why Do You Care?
Jail sentences have been mandated for faculty members who break compliance rules in spending grant dollars and who transgress export controls. For example, a jury convicted a Tennessee professor of illegally exporting information to foreign countries via his graduate students and his trip to a foreign country and sentenced him in July 2009 to four years in federal prison.
What Is an Export?
An export is any oral, written, electronic, or visual disclosure, shipment, transfer, or transmission of commodities, technology, information, technical data, assistance, or software codes to:
- Anyone outside the U.S., including a U.S. citizen
- A non-U.S. individual wherever they are (deemed export)
- A foreign embassy or affiliate
Methods of Disclosure Include
- Fax
- Telephone discussions
- E-mail communications
- Computer data disclosure
- Face-to-face discussions
- Training sessions
- Tours which involve visual inspections