What is the Entity List?
The Entity List is maintained by the Commerce Department to provide notice and to inform the public of certain entities that are of concern to Commerce because of their suspected involvement in the proliferation of chemical or biological weapons, nuclear weapons or explosive devices and missile systems. Based on Commerce’s concerns in this regard, Commerce has subjected the entities on the Entity List to licensing controls on the export and re-export of specified items. If the specified items for a particular entity are “all items subject to the EAR”, then a license is required for all exports and re-exports to the named party. However, if the Entity List specifies a narrow product category such as computers, then—absent other issues which cause the need for an export license—only the export or re-export of a computer to that party requires a license. The license requirement for the specified items exist regardless of the actual end use.
