What must be done to ship a controlled item or commodity out of the country?
The Commerce Department has export jurisdiction over all goods and all “technology” in the United States, unless some other agency has expressly been given such authority. However, this does not mean that a license must always be obtained before any item or piece of information can be shipped. To determine whether it is necessary to obtain an export license from the relevant Federal agency to send tangible items outside the United States, the researcher preparing the shipment needs to consider: • the description of the item, • its intended end-use and end-user, and • its destination. If the item is controlled, a license to ship the item outside the United States is required even when the item or equipment is used in or results from fundamental research. For commodities controlled under EAR, whether a license is required depends upon the country to which the item is being shipped. Even in cases where license approval from the Department of Commerce is not required to ship the item, ther
