Introduction To The Commerce Departments Export Controls

This book is a must for those who deal with United States government export control and economic sanctions regulations. Written as a user's manual rather than an academic or historical treatise, it covers in considerable detail - but in language that is intelligible to non-lawyers as well as lawyers - the Commerce Department's controls on: exports of commercial; 'dual-use' (having both commercial and military utility) and low-level military items; the State Department's controls on higher-level military items; the Treasury Department's approximately thirty different economic sanctions programs; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's controls on nuclear-related commodities; and the Energy Department's restrictions on assistance to foreign nuclear programs. Given the authors' decades of experience with these regulations, the book not only explains the legal rules but also offers advice - not necessarily reflected in the regulations themselves - about how to interpret the regulations and deal with the regulators.

International trade plays an enormous role in economic growth and prosperity. This activity can also be used to transfer military equipment, knowledge, and technology to hostile governments and transnational terrorist and criminal organizations seeking to attack and destroy their enemies. The U.S. and other countries have used economic sanctions such as export controls to try to restrict and eliminate the transfer of weapons and financial assets to these governments and organizations. This work examines how the U.S. has attempted to restrict the export of national security sensitive equipment, finance, knowledge, and technology since World War II with varying degrees of success and failure. It also examines how multiple U.S. Government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and international government organizations seek to influence U.S. international trade, foreign, and security policies while concluding that some export controls are essential for promoting and defending U.S. national security interests.