export_compliance v1.0.0

name: export_compliance description: "Screen exports for US trade compliance: denied and restricted party screening against the Consolidated Screening List, EAR99 vs ECCN classification basics, license determination, end-use checks, EEI filing, and recordkeeping packets. Use when preparing, reviewing, or holding an export, reexport, software or technology transfer, or a sale to a foreign party."

Export Compliance

Purpose

Run a repeatable pre-shipment screening workflow for US exports so no order ships on a gut feeling. The workflow covers every party, the item, the destination, and the end use, then produces a record packet that can be audited later. It is a workflow aid, not legal advice. Stop and get qualified counsel or the export compliance officer on any true match, embargo question, or ITAR item.

Workflow

1. Freeze the transaction facts

Collect before screening, and do not screen from a partial order:

• Item: description, technical specs, origin, value per Schedule B line, software or technology included or not
• Parties: buyer, payer, ultimate consignee, end user, freight forwarder, carrier, bank, and every intermediary, with legal name, aliases, address, country, and date of birth for individuals if available
• Destination: final country, any transit or transshipment countries, delivery address type (business, residence, freight station, post box)
• End use: stated use in the buyer's own words, end user's line of business, any military, government, nuclear, missile, chemical or biological, or surveillance connection
• Deal terms: quote date, order date, planned ship date, payment route

If the end user or end use is vague, that is a finding, not a gap to fill in yourself. Ask, in writing, and hold the order.

2. Decide jurisdiction first

• Defense article or service, or an item described on the US Munitions List (22 CFR Part 121): ITAR, handled by DDTC. Stop this workflow and route to the ITAR owner. Do not reclassify an ITAR item under the EAR to make it shippable.
• Otherwise check the EAR: is the item US origin, in the US, or foreign made with controlled US content or as a direct product of controlled US technology? If none applies, note why the EAR does not reach it and still complete party screening.
• Other agencies can control the same item (for example OFAC sanctions, or a sector regulator). Jurisdiction is not either or.

3. Screen every party, every time

Screen all parties from step 1 against the Consolidated Screening List, plus OFAC's own SDN and non-SDN lists when the CSL result is thin. Detail and list by list consequences: references/watchlists.md.

• Screen at quote, again at order acceptance, and again before shipment. Lists change between those points.
• Use fuzzy matching, then adjudicate by identifiers, not by name feel: address, country, date of birth, passport or tax ID fragments, aliases.
• Apply the OFAC 50 Percent Rule to every entity party: aggregate direct and indirect ownership by all blocked persons. At 50 percent or more the entity is blocked even if its own name is on no list. Document the ownership you checked, not just the name you searched.
• Outcomes, and only these words in the record: clear, false positive - documented, potential - unresolved, true match.
• potential - unresolved and true match are holds. No shipment, no technology release, no workaround through an intermediary. Escalate the same day.

4. Classify the item

• Work the Commerce Control List order of review (Supplement No. 4 to Part 774). Record the ECCN, the paragraph that fits, and the specs that put it there. If no CCL entry fits an item subject to the EAR, it is EAR99.
• Do not accept a vendor ECCN blind. Check it against your item's actual configuration. Variants, encryption, and performance options change classifications.
• Keep a classification memo per product: ECCN or EAR99, basis, who classified it, date, source of specs. Reclassify on product change, rule change, or at a set review interval.
• Unsure between two ECCNs: use the more controlled reading until BIS, counsel, or a commodity classification request settles it.

5. License determination

Follow references/classification-and-licensing.md. In short:

1. Reasons for control from the ECCN entry, crossed against the Commerce Country Chart for the destination. An X means license required unless a License Exception fits.
2. Part 744 end-use and end-user controls on top of the chart: Entity List and MEU entries carry their own license requirements stated in the entry, plus catch-all controls for nuclear, missile, chemical and biological, and military end uses.
3. Embargo and sanctions check for the destination and any transit country under OFAC programs and EAR Part 746. A general license or License Exception must be read in full, conditions included.
4. EAR99 is not a pass. It still fails on a listed party, a prohibited end use, or a sanctioned destination. Record the result as one of: No License Required, License Exception <code>, or License required - application <id or pending>. No shipment while a required license is pending.

6. Red flag review

Work the checklist in references/red-flags.md. Any unresolved flag holds the order the same way a list hit does. Classic patterns: buyer will not state end use, item does not fit the buyer's business, routing through a third country with no business reason, cash or third party payment, new company ordering controlled items at volume, delivery to a freight forwarder as final destination.

7. Documents and EEI

• Packet per shipment: commercial invoice, packing list, destination control statement where required, license or exception citation, end-use statement for controlled items, screening record, classification memo reference.
• EEI in AES: file when value per Schedule B number is over $2,500, and file regardless of value when a license or other mandatory filing requirement applies. Confirm who files (USPPI or authorized agent under written authorization), and keep the proof of filing citation.
• Licence numbers, exception codes, and ECCNs on shipping documents must match the determination in step 5 exactly.

8. Build the record packet

Run the bundled tool on a transaction JSON file to generate the packet and the retention dates:

python3 ~/workspace/skills/export-compliance/bin/export_check.py transaction.json --out packet.md

The tool refuses to mark a packet ready while any screen is unresolved, any required field is missing, or a license marked required has no application reference. That refusal is the correct output. Fix the transaction, not the tool. Retain packets per references/recordkeeping.md: five years under the EAR and ITAR clocks, ten years for OFAC sanctions records under the current Treasury rule. When clocks overlap, keep the record for the longest clock.

9. If something already went wrong

Stop further shipments of the same pattern. Preserve records, do not tidy them. BIS strongly encourages voluntary self-disclosures for EAR violations (15 CFR 764.5), DDTC has a parallel disclosure route for ITAR, and blocked property carries OFAC reporting duties with short deadlines. Route disclosure decisions through counsel, and make them fast. A disclosure written late and polished reads worse than one filed promptly and plainly.

Output Contract

Every completed review returns:

• Transaction summary: item, ECCN or EAR99, destination, end user, end use, value
• Screening table: every party, lists checked, date and time, outcome word from step 3, adjudication note for any hit
• License determination with the chart, Part 744, and embargo reasoning, plus license or exception reference if any
• Red flag section: flags found and how each was resolved, or held if not
• Filing section: EEI required or exempt and why, filer, proof citation if filed
• Packet status: READY only when the tool in step 8 agrees, otherwise HOLD with the blocking items listed first
• Retention line: packet location and the destroy-after date from the longest applicable clock

Never output READY in prose when the packet status is HOLD.

Operating Rules

1. No screening, no shipment. No exceptions for rush orders, small values, repeat customers, or samples. Deemed exports count: releasing controlled technology or source code to a foreign person is an export even with no box moving.
2. Screen the transaction you have, not the one described at quote stage. A changed consignee, route, payer, or end user restarts steps 3 to 6.
3. Never split a shipment, rename a party, reroute through a third country, or drop an item off the invoice to defeat a control, a threshold, or a list hit. That converts a compliance problem into an evasion problem.
4. Lists, country groups, and license policies change without notice to you. Check the live CSL and the current EAR text on the day of the decision. A cached list or last month's chart is not a source.
5. Ownership screening is part of screening. A clean name search on an entity owned by blocked persons is a missed block, not a clear result.
6. Keep records that reconstruct the decision: who screened, what list version or query, what identifiers cleared a hit, who approved. A result with no reasoning is not a record.
7. This skill states US rules as its frame. Other countries run their own export controls and sanctions, and a US clear result does not clear the deal under EU, UK, or local law.
8. When this workflow and a sales deadline conflict, the workflow wins and the hold is reported plainly, with the blocking item named.