Have you recently cracked open the Commerce Control List (CCL) and done a comprehensive review and analysis of the classification of the products and technologies your company has and exports? Why, you may ask, should you do that. You might be thinking, “All of my hardware is ECCN 9A991 and my tech data falls in 9E991, and doesn’t require a license for any country except Angola, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.” And you just might be correct.
And you just might not be correct. Have you, probably with the assistance of one of your technical experts, taken a close look at Category 2, Category 7 and Category 9? There may be some surprises, especially with the technical data controls. These categories in the CCL include a long list of technical data that requires a license-in many cases the tech data requires a license even though the hardware it is related to does not.
For example, do you use diffusion bonding technology? How about fly-by-wire technology? Maybe you have FADEC technology somewhere in your facility. Do you have technology for producing gas turbine engine components using “laser”, water jet, ECM or EDM hole drilling processes? Doing anything with electric actuators? These examples all fall in technology areas that could require a license for all countries (except Canada). And the US Government considers some of the technologies to be so sensitive that it often will not approve licenses even for fairly friendly countries.
This compliance tip falls in the category of easier said than done: On at least an annual basis, an export compliance person should spend some time with a management level engineer and go through the CCL. I say management level engineer because you need somebody who knows something about just about everything that your company is doing now and in the future. The objective is to review the CCL to see if you have become involved in or developed any technologies that require an export license since the last time you did your CCL review (assuming you have ever really done a comprehensive review). Don’t just email the engineer a copy of the CCL. Sit with her/him and guide her/him through the CCL and show her/him the List of Items Controlled in the pertinent ECCNs. There is a good chance you can accomplish 90% of this task in an hour, or maybe a bit more.
I am not saying your classifications are wrong. (I don’t have any idea if they are correct.) You may be 100% correct, which, by the way, is where you want to be. Then again, you may have missed something, or maybe your company is developing a new technology. And maybe that new technology, although it is only slightly different from what you’ve always done, falls in a category that requires an export license. The point is that neither your company’s products/technologies nor the Commerce Control List is static. Both change and you need to make sure you stay current with the changes. And if you have never done a comprehensive classification review, now is a good time to do your first one.
