New Standard Language on BIS Licenses

Starting on December 8, 2014, a new notice will appear on all validated licenses issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). The notice will inform exporters of the scope of the license authorization and will read as follows:

"Unless limited by a condition set forth below, the export, reexport or transfer (in-country) authorized by this license is for the item(s), end-use(s), and parties described in the license application and any letters of explanation. The applicant is responsible for informing the other parties identified on the license, such as ultimate consignees and end-users, of the license's scope and of the specific conditions applicable to them. BIS has granted this license in reliance on representations the applicant made in the license application, letters of explanation, and other documents submitted."

BIS, in coordination with our interagency partners, is making this change as part of our ongoing effort to rationalize and make more consistent the use of conditions on BIS licenses. The purpose of the change is to eliminate, to the greatest extent possible, the inclusion of requirements and prohibitions included in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) as conditions on validated licenses. BIS is eliminating conditions specifying requirements and prohibitions included in the EAR from licenses because the EAR's conditions and requirements are applicable to all exports, reexports and transfers (in-country) of items subject to the EAR as a matter of law; inclusion of such conditions on licenses is redundant.

In making this change, BIS hopes to eliminate the confusion caused by the negative implication of some but not all EAR requirements and/or prohibitions' having been specified as license conditions, which erroneously suggested that the requirements not specified were not required specific to the license and that prohibitions not specifically listed were not prohibited. BIS also hopes the change clarifies the scope of issued licenses; the new notice specifies that the license authorizes only that requested by the license applicant. License applicants interested in receiving authorization to ship items other than those listed on their license applications will need to either request that their license applications be returned for correction or submit an additional license application.

If you have questions or need additional information about this change, please see the FAQs or call BIS for assistance.

Contact information for BIS is as follows:

BIS's Export Counseling Division: (202) 482-4811
BIS's Western Regional Office: (949) 660-0144
BIS's Northern California branch office: (408) 998-8806.

You may also send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please include a telephone number for call-back purposes within your e-mail.