There are four US government agencies with several sets of regulations that currently impact exports, they include:
- Export Administration Regulations (EAR); U.S. Department of Commerce
- International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR); U.S. Department of State
- Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC); Department of Treasury Regulations
- The OFAC administers a number of different sanction and embargo programs. The sanctions can be either comprehensive or selective, using the blocking of assets and trade restrictions to accomplish foreign policy and national security goals. Some export licenses may be issued to ship or transfer technology, data, or other items to sanctioned countries on a case-by-case basis.
Export Compliance Exclusions
There are several exclusions to Export Compliance Laws, in particular:
- Fundamental Research Exclusion (FRE) – Basic and applied research in science and engineering conducted at a U.S. institution of higher education, the results of which ordinarily are published and shared broadly within the scientific community.
The FRE allows USU’s foreign national students, staff, and faculty members to participate in research involving export controlled information. While the vast majority of research performed at USU qualifies for the FRE, it is important to note the FRE only applies to the dissemination of research data and information, not the transfer of material goods to another country.
The FRE may not apply to proprietary research or industrial development, design, production, and product utilization.
USU’s ability to claim the FRE on a research project is eliminated if the researcher accepts (1) any restrictions on the publication of research results; OR (2) a prohibition on foreign national participation on the project.
In the event the FRE cannot be claimed, a Technology Control Plan will be required for export controlled projects. - Employment Exclusion – no license is required to share covered technical data with a foreign national that is:
- Not a national of certain countries (depending on the ECCN)
- A full-time employee of USU
- Has a permanent U.S. address while employed
- Advised in writing not to share covered technical data with any foreign nationals
- Educational Information Exclusion – common information concerning general scientific, mathematical, or engineering principles taught at universities or is in the public domain.
- Publicly Available or Public Domain Information Exclusion – Information that is published and generally available to the public, as well as publicly available technology and software.