🎯 In 30 seconds: Most ordinary products are “EAR99” and ship without a license to most places. A license question comes from four things together: what the item is, where it goes, who gets it, and what they will do with it. Screen every party on the free Consolidated Screening List before every sale, and treat a red flag as a reason to stop and ask.
Who makes the rules
| Commerce: BIS | Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Covers most commercial and “dual-use” items. |
| Treasury: OFAC | Economic sanctions on countries, regimes and listed people and companies. |
| State: DDTC | Defense articles under ITAR. Rarely relevant unless you sell military items. |
EAR99 or an ECCN
The Commerce Control List (CCL) assigns controlled items a five-character Export Control Classification Number, such as 5A002 for certain encryption items. BIS says anything subject to the EAR that does not match an ECCN is EAR99, and that EAR99 items do not need a license in most situations.
How to find yours, in order:
- Ask the manufacturer. Many publish the ECCN or EAR99 status on a spec sheet.
- Work through the CCL yourself using BIS’s Interactive CCL and Order of Review decision tool.
- Still unsure? Request an official classification from BIS through its SNAP-R online system.
An ECCN has nothing to do with your Schedule B number. You need both.
When a license is needed
BIS frames it as four questions: the ECCN, the destination, the end user and the end use. An ECCN item may need a license to one country and not another. Even an EAR99 item can need a license, or be banned, if it goes to an embargoed destination, a listed party, or a prohibited use such as weapons development.
Worked example. You sell EAR99 kitchen scales. A buyer in Germany: no license. The same scales to a company on the Entity List: license required, and usually denied. A $3,000 order to Cuba: EAR99 items generally need a license there. Same product, three answers.
OFAC sanctions and screening
OFAC says all US persons must comply with its sanctions, including US citizens and residents wherever they are and US companies. Its main list is the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. Companies 50% or more owned by blocked persons are also blocked even if they are not named.
The free Consolidated Screening List on trade.gov combines restricted-party lists from Commerce (including the Entity List and Denied Persons List), State and Treasury (including the SDN list) in one search, with fuzzy matching for spelling variants. Screen the buyer, the consignee, the end user and any middleman. Save a screenshot with the date.
Red flags from BIS
BIS’s “Know Your Customer” guidance lists warning signs, including:
- The buyer will not say what the item is for.
- The product does not fit their business (BIS’s example: a bakery ordering sophisticated lasers).
- They offer cash for an expensive item normally financed.
- They do not understand the product but want it anyway, and decline installation, training or service.
- Delivery dates are vague, or a freight forwarder is named as the final destination.
- The route is odd for the product and destination.
- They are evasive about whether the item stays in their country.
If a red flag appears, you have to ask questions. If the answers do not resolve it, BIS says do not proceed, or put the facts to BIS through a license application. Choosing not to look (“self-blinding”) counts against you.
Penalties, at a high level
Per BIS, criminal penalties under the Export Control Reform Act reach up to 20 years in prison and $1 million per violation. Civil penalties were up to $374,474 per violation or twice the transaction value, whichever is greater, as of January 15, 2025, and are adjusted for inflation each year. OFAC penalties are separate and also substantial. If you are unsure, BIS’s Office of Exporter Services answers questions for free at (202) 482-4532.