What a buyer is supposed to inherit
Classification files. License histories. A technology control plan that matches the actual drawings. A visitor and deemed-export practice that will survive a new foreign engineer. BIS publishes the regulations (Source: BIS). This page will not classify a part.
Census CBP 2023 shows 68.4% of manufacturing establishments under 20 employees (Source: Census CBP). Small shops still export software and prints. Size is not an EAR holiday.
What EAR is not allowed to hide
USML drawings stuffed in the same folder. A teaser that emails controlled files. Staged disclosure exists so the CIM does not become an unlicensed export. ITAR’s § 122.4 foreign-person notice is a different clock (Source: 22 C.F.R. § 122.4). CFIUS is a third door.
| Question | EAR answer | ITAR answer |
|---|---|---|
| Agency | BIS | DDTC |
| List | CCL / EAR99 | USML |
| Sale notice | Licenses / deemed export | § 122.4 if foreign control |
| Teaser | Still controlled | Still controlled |
Who sorts the drawings?
Export counsel and the person who actually knows the parts. Jason Taken is a business broker. Educational information only.
Diligence that is unique to EAR files
Ask for the classification matrix: part number, ECCN or EAR99, destination history, and license exceptions the shop actually used. A binder that only says “we export to Canada” is not a matrix. Ask who the Empowered Official equivalent is on the Commerce side, even if the shop never used that title. Ask whether source code, build files, or process recipes sit on laptops that travel. Deemed exports happen in a conference room when a foreign national is shown controlled technology, not only when a crate leaves the dock.
License transfer is ugly on an asset sale. Many authorizations name the legal entity. Stock deals keep the entity and still need amendments when ownership or responsible officials change. Either path belongs on the Gantt chart next to the working capital peg and the Phase I, not after the exclusive is burned.
Customers will ask whether the buyer can keep shipping. Some primes will freeze new POs until the control plan is re-papered. That is a backlog risk, not a glossary flourish. Write it in the CIM as a process, not as “strong aerospace exposure.”
Do not let the teaser become the export. Staged disclosure exists for this reason. A blind page can say “export-controlled process capability” without attaching a drawing. The named book can wait for an NDA and a U.S.-person review.
ISM’s August 2026 PMI of 54.6 does not classify a milling fixture (Source: ISM). National mood is not an ECCN. The glossary exists so EAR stays a Commerce noun.
Isolation
The glossary keeps EAR off ITAR. The FAQ holds the question. When dual-use files are real, book a confidential intro call.
EAR99 is not a synonym for “free to email”
End-use, end-user, and destination rules still attach. A print that is EAR99 can still be a problem in the wrong inbox. Train the person who sends RFQ packages. A buyer whose parent is abroad may auto-sync the data room. That can be a deemed export. Set the sharing rules before the first upload, not after the first complaint.
A CIM can say “Commerce-controlled process capability” without attaching a drawing. Bring the classification matrix if it exists, the destination history, and who currently sends prints. Missing is better than a cheerful “EAR99 everything.” ITAR and EAR in a sale sequences both regimes. Export counsel classifies. After the Commerce noun is straight, a confidential intro call is the conversion path.
What EAR is not
It is not ITAR. BIS is not DDTC. The CCL is not the USML. EAR99 is not a free-to-email stamp. Size is not a holiday. Census CBP 2023 shows 68.4% of manufacturing establishments under 20 employees (Source: Census CBP). Small shops still export software and prints.
How it shows up: a classification matrix — part number, ECCN or EAR99, destination history, and license exceptions the shop actually used. A binder that only says “we export to Canada” is not a matrix. License transfer is ugly on an asset sale because many authorizations name the legal entity. Stock deals keep the entity and still need amendments when ownership or responsible officials change. Either path belongs on the Gantt chart next to the peg and the Phase I, not after the exclusive is burned. ISM’s August 2026 PMI of 54.6 does not classify a milling fixture (Source: ISM).