Rochester Institute of Technology is committed to full compliance with the laws and regulations of the United States, including those controlling the export of technologies, services, and products, for both research and non-research activities. Export control regulations are federal laws that restrict the export of specific items, information, and software for reasons related to U.S. national security, economic, and foreign policy goals.  RIT has a robust Export Control Compliance Program.

As a center of higher education, many of RIT's activities involve research on cutting-edge technologies. While most of the teaching and research activities at RIT are exempt from control as fundamental research, certain sponsored research may involve controlled technologies and trigger the application of U.S. export controls, thereby limiting the participation of foreign students and researchers in such projects.

Export control regulations cover shipments of controlled physical items, such as scientific equipment that require export licenses from the United States to a foreign country, and transfers of controlled information, including technical data.

Export controls usually arise for one or more of the following reasons:

• The nature of the export has actual or potential military applications or economic protection issues;
• Government concerns exist about the destination country, organization, or individual; and/or
• Government concerns exist about the declared or suspected end use or end user of the export.

The university must also comply with federal regulations when faculty and students travel to certain sanctioned or embargoed countries for purposes of teaching or performing research.

While most exports do not require government licenses, licenses are required for exports that the U.S. government considers "controlled" under:

• The Department of Commerce's Export Administration Regulations (EAR) (also known as the Commerce Control List). The EAR is concerned with dual-use items, such as computers or pathogens that are designed for commercial use, but have the potential for military application.
• The Department of State's International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (also known as the U.S. Munitions List), which covers defense-related items and services.
• The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control Regulations (OFAC). OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions that are imposed against specific countries based on reasons of foreign policy, national security, or international agreements. A list of all countries currently subject to boycott programs is available at the OFAC website. 

Both the EAR and the ITAR exclude fundamental research from the requirements of the regulations. Fundamental research is defined as:

Basic and applied research in science and engineering conducted at an institution of higher learning in the United States where the resulting information is ordinarily published and shared broadly within the scientific community, as distinguished from research the results of which are restricted for proprietary reasons or specific U.S. Government access and dissemination controls.

Publicly available information is also excluded from the purview of export control regulations. To guarantee the application of these exclusions, researchers should publish their findings to the fullest extent possible and should not agree to confidentiality clauses or other contractual terms that restrict the dissemination or publication of research materials and results. The fundamental research and public domain exclusions do not apply to tangible items that are being taken or shipped outside of the U.S. In such cases, those items must be analyzed to determine whether they are subject to export control.

For assistance with the export controls, or determining whether you need an export license, please contact the Office of Compliance and Ethics at complianceandethics@rit.edu.