TRADE CONTROLSBRIEF

Authority, evidence, and operating consequence across borders.

Authority library

Authorities and instruments

Each record preserves the issuing authority, jurisdiction, instrument or authority type, legal or operating status, version and application dates, affected audience, workflow mapping, source link, and interpretation boundary.

United States, including specified extraterritorial, reexport, transfer, foreign-direct-product, and U.S.-person applications established in the regulations · U.S. federal regulation

EAR

The EAR govern specified exports, reexports, transfers, releases of technology and source code, and related activities involving items subject to U.S. Commerce Department jurisdiction. They include the Commerce Control List, general prohibitions, license requirements, exceptions, end-use and end-user controls, recordkeeping, and enforcement provisions.

In force; amended continuously through Federal Register rulesU.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security

United States defense articles, defense services, technical data, brokering, registration, licensing, and related conduct within the regulation's scope · U.S. federal regulation

ITAR

The ITAR implement U.S. controls on defense articles, defense services, technical data, brokering, registration, temporary and permanent exports, reexports, retransfers, approvals, exemptions, and records. The U.S. Munitions List is in Part 121.

In force; amended through Federal Register rulesU.S. Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls

U.S. persons, U.S.-nexus transactions, property and interests in property, and other persons or conduct covered by the applicable program authority · U.S. sanctions administrator and regulator

OFAC sanctions programs

OFAC administers multiple economic and trade sanctions programs with distinct prohibitions, permissions, general licenses, definitions, reporting rules, and designation records. Applicability cannot be determined from the presence or absence of a name on the SDN List alone.

Active corpus; program regulations, executive orders, statutes, lists, licenses, FAQs, and guidance change independentlyU.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control

Organizations subject to U.S. sanctions requirements or choosing to structure a sanctions compliance program around OFAC guidance · U.S. regulator guidance

OFAC Compliance Framework

The framework describes management commitment, risk assessment, internal controls, testing and auditing, and training as essential components of a risk-based sanctions compliance program and identifies common root causes of apparent violations.

Published guidanceU.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control

European Union exporters and other persons and activities within the regulation, with implementation and licensing administered by Member States · European Union regulation

EU Dual-Use Regulation

The regulation governs specified exports, brokering, technical assistance, transit, and transfers of dual-use items, including listed items, certain catch-all controls, cyber-surveillance provisions, authorizations, records, and compliance-program considerations.

In force; consolidated version dated November 15, 2025 available through EUR-LexEuropean Parliament and Council of the European Union

Persons and conduct within the scope of each applicable EU restrictive-measures act, as implemented and enforced by Member States and EU institutions · EU legislative and administrative sources

EU sanctions regimes

EU restrictive measures can include asset freezes, making-funds-or-resources-available prohibitions, trade and service restrictions, transport measures, sectoral rules, and licensing derogations. Each regime has its own legal acts, annexes, amendments, and competent-authority process.

Active and changing by regimeCouncil of the European Union and European Commission

United Kingdom sanctions framework, with regulations made under the Act defining particular prohibitions, obligations, exceptions, licensing, and enforcement · United Kingdom Act of Parliament

SAMLA 2018

SAMLA provides a legal framework for UK sanctions regulations after EU withdrawal, including purposes, types of sanctions, designation powers, exceptions, licensing, reporting, information, enforcement, review, and related provisions.

In force as amendedParliament of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom exports, transfers, technical assistance, trade controls, and related conduct within the Order's scope, read with other applicable UK and assimilated law · United Kingdom statutory instrument

UK Export Control Order

The Order establishes controls, offenses, licenses, recordkeeping, enforcement, and schedules relevant to specified military and dual-use exports, transfers, technical assistance, and trade activities.

In force as amendedSecretary of State under the Export Control Act 2002; published as UK Statutory Instrument 2008 No. 3231

Participating states implement agreed controls through their own national or regional legal systems · multilateral export-control arrangement

Wassenaar Control Lists

The arrangement maintains commonly agreed dual-use and munitions control lists that participating states use as a basis for national export-control implementation and information exchange.

Active arrangement with periodically updated control listsWassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies

Contracting parties implement the six-digit HS structure and extend it in national or regional customs schedules · international customs convention and nomenclature

Harmonized System or HS

The HS provides a common six-digit nomenclature for classifying traded goods. National and regional systems extend that structure for tariff, statistical, restriction, and administrative purposes.

In force; major nomenclature editions are revised periodicallyWorld Customs Organization

Customs territory of the European Union, supplemented by delegated, implementing, transitional, and Member State measures · European Union regulation

Union Customs Code or UCC

The UCC establishes core EU customs rules for status, representation, decisions, valuation, origin, guarantees, declarations, procedures, customs debt, controls, records, and electronic exchange, with substantial detail in related acts and systems.

In force as amendedEuropean Parliament and Council of the European Union

How to read the library

Binding requirements, official guidance, technical standards, implementation guides, program rules, and authority data are not interchangeable. Each page names the source class and states what it can and cannot establish about an organization or product.