Department of Commerce - Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) - is responsible for the development and administration of export controls and regulations through the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Recent changes in these regulations have been made and it is important to be familiar with how these regulations effect your exports. Under the Export Administration Regulations there are two "classes" under which your product may fall in regard to the need for export licensing. These are shipments that require individual "Validated Export" licenses or shipments that fall under "License Exceptions". To determine how export controls effect your shipments you will need to know the following:

1. Classification (under the Harmonized Schedule B Tariff Rates and Export Regulations)
   
2. Destination
   
3. End User
   
4. End Use

Department of State - Office of Defense Trade Control - controls exports of defense related articles and munitions items. For more information or clarification, call 703-875-6644.

Department of Justice - Drug Enforcement Agency - controls the exports of narcotics and dangerous drugs. For more information or clarification, call 202-307-7181.

Department of Energy - governs the export of natural gas and electric power. For more information or clarification, call 202-586-0823.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - governs the export of nuclear equipment and materials. For more information or clarification, call 301-504-2342.

Department of Interior - controls exports of endangered fish and wildlife, migratory birds and bald and golden eagles. For more information or clarification, call 703-358-2104.

Department of the Treasury - Office of Foreign Assets Control - controls transactions between U.S. persons and embargoed countries. For more information or clarification, call 202-622-2490.

Department of Treasury - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms - controls the export of alcohol and cigarettes. It also controls temporary import of firearms. (Permanent imports of firearms/defense articles are controlled by the Department of the Treasury). For more information or clarification, call 202-927-8140 for ALCOHOL and 202-927-8200 or 8210 for TOBACCO & FIREARMS.

Department of Commerce - Patent and Trademark Office - controls the export of unclassified technical data in the form of a patent application.

Your freight forwarder is an important source of information as well.

Export License Exceptions
It is important to determine the status of your shipment in respect to export controls before you begin the export process to ensure the timely movement of your shipment and its compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Export license exceptions apply to two categories of exported commodities: (1) items which fall within the scope of the Export Administration Regulations but which are not listed in the Commerce Control List - CCL (CCL - Supplement #1, Section 774) and (2) items which are listed in the CCL under an Export Commodity Control Number (ECCN) which specifically allows one of the following license exceptions. Exporters use or invoke these exceptions by entering the license exception symbol on the Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED, block 21) and signing the Declaration. Note also that these license exceptions apply only to Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) controlled exports; they do not apply to defense articles, nuclear materials or articles controlled by other export codes or regulations.

SYMBOL	DESCRIPTION	LICENSE EXCEPTION EXPLANATION	EAR Section
NOL	Not On List	Items within the scope of the EAR not listed in the CCL	758.1 a)4
NLR	No License Required	CCL items exported to destinations that do not need licenses	758.1 a)3
LVS	Limited Value Shipment	Items of values less than the ECCN limit sent to free world countries	740.3
GBS	Group B Shipment	Items identified as eligible for GBS to free world countries	740.5
CSR	COCOM Successor Regime	Items identified as eligible for CSR to qualified countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States	740.4
NSG	Nuclear Supplier Group	Items identified as eligible for NSG to qualified countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States	740.6
SAF	Nuclear Safeguards Agencies	All but supercomputers sent to nuclear safeguards agencies	740.14
CIV	Civilian End Use	Items identified as eligible for qualified civilian end use	740.7
TMP	Temporary Export	Items or software for use by U.S. citizens and return to U.S.	740.9
PTS	Parts	One for one replacement parts for items legally exported	740.10
S&R	Servicing & Replacement	Return of items or software imported for servicing	740.11
GOV	Governments	Items sent to agencies or employees of the U.S. or cooperating governments	740.15
GFT	Gift Parcels	Items sent to an individual, charitable…, as a gift i.e. not for sale	740.16
A&V	Aircraft & Vessels	U.S. or foreign aircraft or vessels (ships) leaving the U.S., reasonable items carried for use, and items carried by or sent to aircraft or ships registered in either the U.S. or Canada	740.13
BAG	Baggage	Property of passengers leaving the U.S. for personal use i.e. not for sale	740.12
NPR	Non Naval Petroleum	Petroleum products not from Naval Petroleum Reserves	754.3 c)
WRC	Western Red Cedar	Logs not from federal or state forests in the lower 48 states	754.4 c)
TUS	Temporary U.S.	Foreign origin items temporarily in U.S. i.e. for trade shows etc.	740.9
GSN	General Software	Software available as mass market items in stores	740.20
STS	Sales Technology & Software	Technology or software normally used to sell (market) products	740.18
OTS	Operational Technology & Software	Minimum need to operate legally exported products	740.16
SUD	Software Updates	Updates of object code to legally exported software	740.19
TSR	Restricted Technology & Software Public Data	Not available to the public, needs written assurance. Technology and Software available to the public are not subject to any export controls. Public data is available to all destinations including those subject to denial orders or embargoes.	740.21   732.3 b)