Portland State University is committed to an open academic environment, where teaching and research can be carried out openly and without restrictions on dissemination, publication, or foreign national participation. However, in certain instances, export control regulations may hinder the free exchange of knowledge. When export controls intersect with academic activities, PSU will seek to preserve and defend an open academic environment. While most university activities are not subject to export controls, when the regulations are applicable, they must be followed. PSU is fully committed to compliance with all US export regulations, and to that end has established an export control compliance program.
There are several federal agencies that enforce some form of export controls. Each administer a different set of export control regulations, which target different types of commodities and exports. The three main export control regimes affecting academia are:
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) – Administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce, this set of regulations governs the export of what are known as dual use items. These are items and technologies that have civilian as well as military applications. The EAR also regulates the export of a select group of military items and technologies. The EAR contains the Commerce Control List, which is a list of the commodities controlled under the EAR. The EAR’s controls vary widely for each commodity and destination country.
International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) – Administered by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls of the Department of State, these regulations concern the export of military commodities and technology. These regulations are stricter and have fewer exceptions than the EAR. The controls do not vary significantly by commodity or destination country. The list of items controlled under the ITAR is the US Munitions List.
US Sanctions Regulations – Administered by the Office of Foreign Asset Control of the Department of the Treasury, these are regulations concerning sanctioned countries. Each separate country sanctions regime has a separate set of regulations that are independent of each other. The sanctions regulations, for the most part, do not attempt to control the export of any specific commodity; rather, they control the economic activities of individuals and organizations subject to US law with respect to the target country.
Of particular interest to universities and research institutions is the concept of deemed exports. Federal law prohibits the disclosure of certain technical information pertaining to controlled technologies by any method to foreign nationals, even if they are in the United States. A disclosure of such technical data or technology is deemed to be an export to the foreign national’s home country. What constitutes a disclosure varies by set of regulations, but can include oral disclosure, email, visual disclosure, training sessions, and even tours. For the purposes of the export control regulations, a foreign national is defined as any person who is not a lawful permanent resident (which include green card holders) or who is a protected individual (e.g. refugees or those granted asylum.) Those authorized to be in the US by a student visa (F visa), those temporarily admitted to the US as a visiting scholar (J visa), or those foreign nationals working at PSU (H1-B visa) are all subject to the deemed export rule.
Information and technical data that can be found in the public domain are generally not subject to export controls. Therefore, information that has been published and is freely available is excluded from export controls. This includes not only books and scholarly articles and publications, but also information made available on the Internet and accessible to the general public. It also includes information being taught in catalog listed courses. One way information can be considered to fall within the public domain is by its classification as fundamental research, which is an important distinction available to accredited institutions of higher education in the US. Fundamental Research is defined as basic and applied research in science and engineering where the resulting information is ordinarily published and shared broadly within the scientific community. Therefore, research whose results are intended to be published, and where the researcher is not prevented from freely publishing the results (for proprietary reasons, or because of government dissemination controls) can generally be performed by foreign nationals without the need to apply for authorization (in the form of an export license.)
Contact:
Research and Graduate Studies
Market Center Building, Suite 620
1600 SW 4th Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97201
Phone: 503-725-9944
Fax: 503-725-8170
Email: export@pdx.edu