You may be familiar with Defense Distributed – they made a splash a couple years ago when they uploaded files to the Internet that would allow others to download the plans to 3D print part of a pistol.

The US State Department asked them to pull the files because they may not have complied with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR for short.

While you might not be uploading plans for a 3D printed nuclear reactor to thingiverse, you may be surprised at the scope of items and information that U.S. export laws regulate.

This episode features a talk with attorney Michael Dobson who addresses what you as a Maker, or Open Source Hardware collaborator can do to be informed about U.S. export laws (while this is a very U.S. centric discussion, most every nation does have similar bodies of law).

Michael recently wrote a great and useful paper titled “Open Source Hardware, U.S. Export Controls, and Avoiding Missteps in the Maker Movement”.

It is written in a very casual manner, for the legalistic layperson. It is also serves as a fantastic guide to get acquainted with all the agencies and regulations that govern U.S. export laws.

Listen to the show to get a primer on export regulations of physical things, free things and even information.

You can download the paper from this website:

http://www.kelleydrye.com/publications/articles/1927

Guide to the Alphabet Soup:

As promised, here is a quick acronym guide for the many agencies and volumes of regulations that play a part in U.S. export laws:

ITAR: International Trade in Arms Regulations: “Defense Articles” are subject to ITAR

USML: United States Munitions List: This is the list of “Defense Articles”

DDTC: Directorate of Defense Trade Controls: The office that administers the ITAR

NRC: Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Administers export controls on nuclear material and equipment

EAR: Export Administration Regulations: Regulates exports on everything other than “Defense Articles”

BIS: Bureau of Industry and Security: Agency that administers the EAR

CCL: Commerce Control List: A list on items controlled by EAR

ECCN: Export Control Classification Numbers: The actual code assigned to controlled stuff by the CCL

OFAC: Office of Foreign Assets Control: Administers economic and trade sanctions

AAJFTHOI: Another Acronym Just For The Heck Of It: Administers my lame attempt at humor