Many businesses struggle with understanding the complexity of export control regulations surrounding technical data. Having a good understanding of these requirements and mapping them to your business processes will help you determine what controls you need to focus on to be compliant. If these guidelines are misinterpreted by businesses, it will almost definitely lead to the enterprise incurring heavy fines up to $1,000,000 and up to 20 years of imprisonment.
One example of a commonly misinterpreted regulation is within ITAR, these regulations relate to prohibiting the export of “Defense Articles.” Many enterprises interpret “Defense Articles” as relating solely to their products, in reality, “Defense Articles” refers to both the products, and technical data and services associated with said products. Exports to non-US countries without a proper export license, relating to both the product and its technical data and services, would constitute a violation.
Another common misinterpretation is what truly constitutes an “export.” Many consider an “Export” to be products and technical data that is in some way transferred to other countries. However, “Exports” also include the access of technical data by foreign persons, including access by foreign workers on US soil. Routing or storing technical data through servers or storing data in file shares located in other countries can also constitute a violation.
In today’s digital economy, enterprises need to enable a workforce that is both highly mobile and increasingly global and collaborate and share data across global supply chains. Some enterprises also working with outsourced manufacturing partners to produce quality products cost-effectively, as well as a manufacture for and trading with overseas customers.
Export control regulations require companies to monitor, control, and report the transfer or export of controlled technical data. It is prudent that enterprises invest in solutions to automate handling and export compliance of controlled technical data. NextLabs’ Technical Data Export Compliance solution help organizations automate export authorizations, transfer of technical data, and segregate controlled technical data.