This guide will give you the introduction to United States export regulations and controls. The export controls are referred to the various laws and regulations that help in governing the exporters that ship their items across the international borders. The regulations help in controlling sale, transferring, shipment and the release of the products, information and the goods to the foreign nations. In the countries like United States, the export regulations are administered by the executive and the government agencies that exist to promote various U.S exports interests. The ITAR regulations are very important when the exporters are shipping the defence items and arms to the non-US countries.
International Traffic In Arms Regulations:
The ITAR compliance regulates the import, export and re-export of the defense articles, goods and the services into and from the United States, as well as providing defense services by the U.S. persons. The articles that come under the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) are subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and governed by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC). DDTC is an office within the U.S. Department of State – Bureau of the Military and the Political Affairs. The rules, provisions and requirements listed under the ITAR particularly cover the import, export and re-export of the defense articles and related services. It comprises of prior reviewing of the exports and then issue of license and/or authorization, registration, reporting and keeping the records and also the administrative needs. If the exporters are non-compliant with the ITAR, they can be penalized and pay the large amount of administrative fines. The companies that do not follow the ITAR regulations are subject to the civil and criminal penalties as well.
Authorization to Export:
The ITAR requires the exporters, brokers and the manufacturers of the defense goods and the services to be registered with the DDTC. The registration and the filing of the form implies that the owners, officers and directors of the company are following the ITAR requirements. The companies that are registered have to pay a certain amount of fees annually that depends on the licenses obtained by the exporters and several types of obligations like the notifications of the DDTC of the items changes required by the company. DDTC usually publishes the guidance and the regulations on the export contents. DDTC always recommends the registrants to implement the compliance policies and the controls for enduring that the exporters are maintaining compliance with the ITAR regulations. Only the US exporters and the individuals can register themselves with the DDTC as the certified exporter or manufacturer.
Scope of ITAR Regulations:
The entire defence articles exports and the articles even including the technical data, always require checking and the approval from the DDTC from before. After export of the defence items from the US, authorization is very important from the DDTC. These days, maintaining compliance and checking the export parties is not possible manually due to a large number of exporters and the huge number of products being exported. To ensure total compliance, the US manufacturers and exporters are using export software to check the export parties. The products falling under the USML list are subjected to checking. Thus, it is clear that before exporting the defense articles and technical data to the non-US entities, the exporters should be compliant with the ITAR rules.
