The United States Export Control Laws and Regulations

The current system of United States export controls began with the Export Control Act of 1949. Following World War II, Congress passed this legislation to establish a strategic embargo against communist nations in an attempt to control trade to further the national security and foreign policy interests of the West. In 1969, Congress reformed the export control laws by passing the Export Administration Act of 1969 – which contained no inherent limits. However, the increasing tension between the U.S. business interests and the national security and foreign policy interests made Congress once again alter the legislation and the Export Administration Act of 1979 was passed – considerably modifying the U.S. domestic export control programs. Since then, several additional changes have been made including amendments and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. The present work provides an overview of the laws and regulations with respect to their underlying ideas, the government agencies that perform export control and how export controls are implemented both domestically and internationally. It concludes with an evaluation of the export licensing system and a discussion of the laws and regulations which may influence Sino-US trade