What the noun is allowed to mean on a deal
A registration, a technology control plan, a visitor log, and a notice problem if a foreign person will own or control the registrant. 22 C.F.R. § 122.4 is the merger-and-acquisition notice section (Source: 22 C.F.R. § 122.4). Confirm current text with export counsel. Sixty days is the usual advance clock on that foreign-person path.
CFIUS is a different door. Treasury’s committee page does not satisfy DDTC (Source: CFIUS / Treasury).
What ITAR is not
EAR. A quality certificate. A reason to put drawings in a teaser. Census CBP 2023’s 284,452 establishments include many dual-use machine shops that still need an honest USML-versus-CCL sort (Source: Census CBP). Aerospace and defense suppliers is the sector owner.
| Regime | Agency | List |
|---|---|---|
| ITAR | DDTC / State | USML |
| EAR | BIS / Commerce | CCL |
| CFIUS | Treasury-led | National security review |
Who amends the registration?
The surviving registrant and export counsel. A domestic buyer still files amendments. A broker does not. Jason Taken is a business broker. Educational information only.
How a sale actually touches the registration
Start with the current DDTC registration: legal name, doing-business-as, USML categories, and whether any foreign person already sits in the ownership chain. Then write the buyer’s chain the same way. If the buyer is a U.S. person and no foreign person will own or control the registrant, the work is still an amendment and a technology-control-plan handoff, not a holiday. If a foreign person will own or control, § 122.4(b)’s advance notice is a calendar item that belongs in the letter of intent next to exclusivity, not in a week-twenty surprise.
Technical data is the quiet failure. A CIM appendix that emails manufacturing drawings, a plant tour that hands a visitor a thumb drive, or a data room that is open to a foreign associate can be an export before anyone has signed an APA. Stage the room. Watermark. Keep USML files off the teaser. Aerospace and defense files that also hold EAR items need a sort, not a single “export” folder.
Empowered Official continuity matters. If the seller is the only Empowered Official, the buyer needs a named successor before close, plus a plan for licenses that name the old entity. Asset sales are messier than stock sales here because the registrant is the entity. Do not assume the registration rides with the iron.
Brokers do not classify parts. They do make sure the CIM says “registrant” when it is true and does not say it as a boast when it is not. A shop that makes a fastener that happens to go on a platform is not automatically a USML shop. A shop that cuts USML hardware and pretends it is EAR99 is a different problem. Export counsel sorts that. This definition only keeps the noun from collapsing into EAR or CFIUS.
Isolation
The glossary keeps ITAR off EAR. The FAQ holds the question. When a registrant is actually in the file, book a confidential intro call.
Visitors, cameras, and the Empowered Official who is leaving
A foreign diligence associate with a phone on a USML cell is a control-plan problem. Say who may tour. Say whether cameras are allowed. Say whether the data room is U.S.-person only for a slice of files. If the only Empowered Official is leaving, the buyer needs a named successor and a training plan before close. Licenses that name the old official have to move. That is not a Monday morning task.
A CIM can say “DDTC registrant” when it is true and should not say it as a boast when it is not. Bring the registration status, the USML categories if known, and whether any foreign person will own or control the registrant. Those three facts decide the calendar. ITAR and EAR in a sale is the sequence. After the USML noun is straight, a confidential intro call is the conversion path.
What ITAR is not
It is not EAR. DDTC is not BIS. The USML is not the CCL. It is not CFIUS. Foreign-person control has a notice clock under 22 C.F.R. § 122.4 that is a different door from a Treasury review. A shop that makes a fastener that happens to go on a platform is not automatically a USML shop. A shop that cuts USML hardware and treats it as EAR99 is a different problem. Export counsel sorts that. Tours, cameras, and thumb drives can be exports. This definition only keeps the noun from collapsing into EAR or CFIUS.