Know Your Recipient

Restricted Party Screening

The U.S. government restricts certain exports, reexports and transfers of items to certain persons, entities and destinations. These restrictions are maintained by several federal agencies, including but not limited to the State, Treasury and Commerce Departments, on various lists. When a person or entity is on such a list, U.S. entities are expected to do additional due diligence to ensure that any proposed interaction doesn’t involve an activity that is prohibited by U.S. law. NC State personnel should ensure that all international recipients of are screened against US Government Restricted Party Lists before shipping.

End-User Certification

It is illegal to provide controlled goods or technical data to an individual or entity where there may be reason to believe that the recipient may forward it to another country or foreign national, also known as a reexport. For example, it has been determined that no license is required to share controlled data with a Canadian citizen. However, you know that the individual will be continuing research in Iran in the near future. You may be held liable for an illegal re-export to Iran. When in doubt, have your recipient complete an End User Certificate.

Red Flags

Be alert to red flags from requesting institutions or e-mails.  Examples of red flags are:

• The requestor is reluctant to offer information regarding the end-use of the goods or technical data
• The requested information does not fit the requestor’s line of business.
• The goods or technical data is incompatible with the technical level of the country to which it is being shipped, such as semiconductor manufacturing technology being shipped to a country that has no electronics industry.
• The requestor is willing to pay cash for technical data.
• The requestor is unfamiliar with the terminology of a field but still requests technical data. When questioned, the buyer is evasive and/or unclear about the need for the goods or technical data.
• E-mails from domains such as Yahoo, Gmail, etc, when it would appear that the requestor should have a “.edu” or “business.com” e-mail address.

Destination Control Statement

All physical shipments from one country to another must be accompanied by a commercial or pro forma invoice.  This document lists the sender, recipient, commodities, and values of the shipment.

US Export Control laws require a Destination Control Statement (DCS) to be printed on this invoice.  The DCS serves to inform the recipient of the US laws applicable to the export transaction. This statement often come pre-printed on invoice templates or documents created online via carrier portal (FedEx, DHL, UPS), however it is the shipper’s responsibility to ensure the below statement appears on the commercial or pro forma invoice:

These items are controlled by the U.S. Government and authorized for export only to the country of ultimate destination for use by the ultimate consignee or end-user(s) herein identified. They may not be resold, transferred, or otherwise disposed of, to any other country or to any person other than the authorized ultimate consignee or end-user(s), either in their original form or after being incorporated into other items, without first obtaining approval from the U.S. government or as otherwise authorized by U.S. law and regulations.

If the item(s) you are shipping fall under certain export classifications, additional information must be placed on the shipping documents. This applies primarily to items that have a specific military or space application.

For assistance on determining the proper export classification of your items and instruction on the necessary export compliance measures, complete and submit an Export Control Determination Request or contact export_controls@ncsu.edu.