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Interactive EAR

Chapter VII

§ 748.4 Basic guidance related to applying for a license.

This version is the current regulation | Last updated: November 1, 2024

(a) License applicant—(1) Export transactions. Only a person in the United States may apply for a license to export items from the United States. The applicant must be the exporter, who is the U.S. principal party in interest with the authority to determine and control the sending of items out of the United States, except for Encryption License Arrangements (ELA) (see § 750.7(d) of the EAR ). See definition of “exporter” in part 772 of the EAR .

(2) Routed export transactions. The U.S. principal party in interest or the duly authorized U.S. agent of the foreign principal party in interest may apply for a license to export items from the United States. Prior to submitting an application, the agent that applies for a license on behalf of the foreign principal party in interest must obtain a power of attorney or other written authorization from the foreign principal party in interest. See § 758.3(b) and (d) of the EAR .

(3) Reexport transactions. The U.S. or foreign principal party in interest, or the duly authorized U.S. agent of the foreign principal party in interest, may apply for a license to reexport controlled items from one country to another. Prior to submitting an application, an agent that applies for a license on behalf of a foreign principal party in interest must obtain a power-of-attorney or other written authorization from the foreign principal party in interest, unless there is a preexisting relationship by ownership, control, position of responsibility or affiliation. See power-of-attorney requirements in paragraph (b)(2) of this section.

(b) Disclosure of parties on license applications and the power of attorney—(1) Disclosure of parties. License applicants must disclose the names and addresses of all parties to a transaction. When the applicant is the U.S. agent of the foreign principal party in interest, the applicant must disclose the fact of the agency relationship, and the name and address of the agent's principal. If there is any doubt about which persons should be named as parties to the transaction, the applicant should disclose the names of all such persons and the functions to be performed by each in Block 24 of the application. Note that when the foreign principal party in interest is the ultimate consignee or end-user, the name and address need not be repeated in Block 24. See “Parties to the transaction” in § 748.5.

(2) Power of attorney or other written authorization—(i) Requirement. An agent must obtain a power of attorney or other written authorization from the principal party in interest, unless there is a preexisting relationship by ownership, control, position of responsibility or affiliation, prior to preparing or submitting an application for a license, when acting as either:

(A) An agent, applicant, licensee and exporter for a foreign principal party in interest in a routed transaction; or

(B) An agent who prepares an application for export on behalf of a U.S. principal party in interest who is the actual applicant, licensee and exporter in an export transaction.

(ii) Application. Block 7 of the application (documents on file with applicant) must be marked “other” and Block 24 (Additional information) must be marked “748.4(b)(2)” to indicate that the power of attorney or other written authorization is on file with the agent. See § 758.3(d) for power of attorney requirement, and see also part 762 of the EAR for recordkeeping requirements.

(c) Prohibited from applying for a license. No person subject to a denial order based on a conviction for a violation of any statute specified at 50 U.S.C. 4819(e)(1)(B) may apply for any license for a period up to 10 years from the date of the conviction. The duration of the prohibition shall be included as a term of the denial order. See § 766.25 of the EAR .

(d) Prior action on a shipment. If you have obtained a license without disclosure of the facts described in this section, the license will be deemed to have been obtained without disclosure of all facts material to the granting of the license and the license so obtained will be deemed void. See part 764 of the EAR for other sanctions that may result in the event a violation occurs.

(1) Licenses for items subject to detention or seizure. If you submit a license application for items that you know have been detained or seized by the Office of Export Enforcement or by the U.S. Customs Service, you must disclose this fact to BIS when you submit your license application.

(2) Licenses for items previously exported. You may not submit a license application to BIS covering a shipment that is already laden aboard the exporting carrier, exported or reexported. If such export or reexport should not have been made without first securing a license authorizing the shipment, you must send a letter of explanation to the Office of Export Enforcement, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., H4520, Washington, D.C., 20230. The letter must state why a license was not obtained and disclose all facts concerning the shipment that would normally have been disclosed on the license application. You will be informed of any action and furnished any instructions by the Office of Export Enforcement.

(e) Multiple shipments. Your license application need not be limited to a single shipment, but may represent a reasonable estimate of items to be shipped throughout the validity of the license. Do not wait until the license you are using expires before submitting a new application. You may submit a new application prior to the expiration of your current license in order to ensure uninterrupted shipping.

(f) Second application. You may not submit a second license application covering the same proposed transaction while the first is pending action by BIS.

(g) Resubmission. If a license application is returned without action to you by BIS or your application represents a transaction previously denied by BIS, and you want to resubmit the license application, a new license application must be completed in accordance with the instructions contained in supplement no. 1 to part 748. Cite the Application Control Number on your original application in Block 24 on the new license application.

(h) Emergency processing. Applicants may request emergency processing of license applications by contacting the Outreach and Educational Services Division of the Office of Exporter Services by telephone on (202) 482-4811 or by facsimile on (202) 482-2927. Refer to the Application Control Number when making emergency processing requests. BIS will expedite its evaluation, and attempt to expedite the evaluations of other government agencies, of a license application when, in its sole judgement, the circumstances justify emergency processing. See § 750.7(g) of the EAR for the limit on the validity period of emergency licenses.

[61 FR 12812, Mar. 25, 1996, as amended at 65 FR 42569, July 10, 2000; 70 FR 8249, Feb. 18, 2005; 70 FR 22249, Apr. 29, 2005; 73 FR 49330, Aug. 21, 2008; 79 FR 32626, June 5, 2014; 80 FR 51730, Aug. 26, 2015; 85 FR 73413, Nov. 18, 2020]