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The Bureau of Industry and Security is charged with the development, implementation and interpretation of U.S. export control policy for dual-use commodities, software, and technology. Dual-use items subject to BIS regulatory jurisdiction have predominantly commercial uses, but also have military applications. In order to accomplish this objective, BIS seeks to promulgate clear, concise, and timely regulations. This section of our Web site provides a link to the Bureau's regulations governing exports of dual-use items (the "Export Administration Regulations"), codified at 15 Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter 7. It also provides discussions of certain key regulatory policy areas, including policies governing exports of high performance computers, exports of encryption products, deemed exports, U.S. antiboycott regulations, special regional considerations, the multilateral export control regimes, and the technical advisory committees.  

In addition to the U.S. export control policy for dual-use items, the Bureau of Industry and Security is also charged with the development, implementation and interpretation of the antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Act. The antiboycott provisions encourage, and in some cases require, U.S. persons to refuse to participate in foreign boycotts that the United States does not sanction. U.S. persons are also required to report receipt of boycott-related requests.

Key Regulatory Areas

Qs & As for Proposed Rule Establishing License Exception Intra-Company Transfer (ICT)

CCL Review Process

High Performance Computers
Encryption
Deemed Exports
Antiboycott Regulations
Regional Considerations
Multilateral Export Regimes
Technical Advisory Committees
Wassenaar Arrangement

Export Administration Regulations

BIS Electronic EAR files
This link will take you to the unofficial electronic EAR files in PDF format created by BIS. The legally official text of the EAR is provided via the Federal Register publications. Incorporation of revisions pursuant to Federal Register regulatory publications are completed by BIS within 72 hours to the best of our abilities. While we strive for perfection, we do make mistakes from time to time. You may email any findings of errors. We still urge you to use the electronic EAR files on the Government Printing Office's E-CFR website, as these files will eventually become the official legal version of the EAR. They also are not perfect, so if you find errors in the EAR text on the E-CFR website, please email us.

Export Administration Regulations
This link will take you to the Export Administration Regulations (Title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations Parts 730 through 774) on the Government Printing Office's (GPO) electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR) website. The files are separated by Part and then further separated by Section and Supplements. You can cut and paste from any of the text in the files. The content is updated within 48 hours of a regulatory amendment being published in the Federal Register. For more information about the eCFR click here.

Search the EAR
You can search the entire EAR by going to the simple search page provided by GPO. Type "15" in the "Enter a Title Number" block, and then type the term you would like to search in the "Search For" block. Then click the "submit search" button.
IMPORTANT TIP: Many defined terms in the EAR appear in quotation marks. Quotation marks hide the words in quotes from the eCFR search engine. This occurs with terms in either double quotes (“ ”) or single quotes (‘ ’). To make sure your term is found in all instances, include an asterisk (*) immediately following your search term or phase. This acts as a wildcard character and will ensure that your results include all instances of your search term within the EAR, even when the term is in quotes.

Commerce Control List
This link will take you to the Commerce Control List (CCL) on the Government Printing Office's (GPO) electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR) website. The file contains the entire CCL and is searchable (Ctrl + F). You can cut and paste from it, e.g., cut and paste the entire file into MS Word format to carry around with you. The content is updated within 48 hours of being published in the Federal Register. For more information about the eCFR click here.

Federal Register Notices
This link will take you to all the Federal Register notices that affected a change to the Export Administration Regulations since 1996. It is sorted by year and is a good resource for researching when a change occurred.

GPO Subscription for Hard Copy EAR
This link takes you to the Government Printing Office's (GPO) subscription page for the hard copy edition of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The data is sourced from the BIS online EAR. It comes with laminated tabs, cover, and two spines (one spine for the text, and the other for the CCL - in case you want to split it into two binders) (binder(s) not included). Also, BIS is assisting GPO with the quarterly supplements that include replacement pages to keep the book as current as possible (for a hard copy EAR that is). Reminder, the most up-to-date versions of the EAR are the online BIS EAR and the e-CFR, which are free.


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