Okay, so what is an ECCN first and then why should I care?

There are a number of parameters involved in the questions of:

Can you export something?

Do you need an export license?

For the Can you ship this product, service or technology question, you must be able to answer and document the following questions:

What are you shipping?
Where will you ship it?
To Whom will you ship?
What will they use it for?

The What are you shipping requires several different answers (e.g. schedule B or ECCN) on different shipping documents, but in this article we address the ECCN, which will determine whether you need an export license.

Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) are the classification code used to identify the category of your product, service or technology. The ECCN classification code is then used to determine whether or not you need an Export License for each shipment of your item.

The process to use the ECCN to determine whether you need an export license or not is:

1. Determine the Export Control Classification Number (ECCN)
2. Check to see if your ECCN is on the Commerce Control List (CCL)
3. if your ECCN in not on the CCL then go to step 6
4. If your ECCN is on the CCL, then you need to further check for your ECCN on the Commerce Country Chart (CCC);
5. If your ECCN is on the CCC then determine the "ship to country" and "restriction type" - you will need an export license; go to step 7

6. If your ECCN is not on CCL or not on CCC use EAR99

7. Check for your customer on the Consolidated Screening List (CSL)
8. If not on CSL, EAR99 can ship as No License Required (NLR)
9. If your customer is on the CSL you CANNOT ship to them.

Ah, you say but my product is very simple and there is no way I should need an export license to export it. That might seem logical to you, but if your product has a "dual use", which means your product has both commercial and military or proliferation applications, then you need to do some more work before shipping. You need to determine your product's Export Control Classification Number (ECCN), check to see if it is on the Commerce Control List and if so further check the requirements and destination country on the Commerce Country Chart. If you need to get an export license remember that the license only applies to one shipment (transaction), so you need to get another new license for each shipment and licenses typically can take 20-30 days to get (which means that eCommerce won't work smoothly for export products requiring and export license.

Some examples of the not-so-logical nature of export licenses:

Paraffin (you know stuff in candles) can often require an export license depending on the buyer and destination country.

Horses shipped by sea, but not by air or land require an export license

Sony Playstation depending upon to where and to whom you ship can require an export license.

So forget the intuitive feeling that you don't need an export license and check before shipping.

Export Compliance probably has sneaked up on most exporters, and many exporters and potential exporters we talk to don't know what it is, what it means or why it's important. Yes, this is big and messy but also very necessary since 9/11, not only to prevent terrorist activities but also to keep exporters out of trouble.

Simplified bottom line is that exporters must know and carefully document:

What they are selling? (does it require an export license?)

Where they are shipping? (is the buyer or end user location in a prohibited or restricted country?)

To Whom are they shipping? (is the buyer or the end user on a US government Denied Parties List?)

What is the end users intended use for the product? (Probably don't know for sure must do due diligence to confirm use is legitimate).

Okay, many of you use commercial carriers and they do all of the shipping documents as a service, but you must know that they do that to protect themselves and not you. They do keep the archive records as long as they legally need to, but that doesn't necessarily protect you, the exporter, if there is ever a problem, because the shipper doesn't necessarily give you a complete copy of their compliance due diligence AND YOU need to keep a copy for 5 years.