The United States government controls the export of sensitive equipment, software, and technologies, in order to protect our national security interests and foreign policy objectives. The export control system consists of two primary sets of export control regulations: the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). EAR regulates “dual-use” technologies that can be used for both civilian and defense purposes, while ITAR regulates the export of defense-related articles and services.
Since research universities conduct over 60 percent of the fundamental research performed in the country, export control regulations are extremely important to faculty, researchers, and students involved in the conduct of research. The controlled export of items, software, technologies, and equipment impacts the conduct of scientific research at U.S. universities. For many years, AAU and our member-universities have worked closely with the U.S. government under the Bush and Obama Administrations to reform export control regulations and policies.