Where Industry and Security Intersect
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| The Entity list, in PDF or ASCII text format, is available on the Government Printing Office EAR Web site. While the files sizes may vary over time, the PDF file can be as large as 300K and the TXT file is about 70K. |
Since February 1997, the Federal Register has published several Commerce Department rules which added entities to or removed entities from the Entity List, a listing of foreign end users involved in proliferation activities. The Entity List is based on the Enhanced Proliferation Control Initiative (EPCI), which has been implemented in the Export Administration Regulations. BIS maintains, in Supplement 4 to the Part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations, an "Entity List" to provide notice informing the public of export license requirements related to these entities.
These end users have been determined to present an unacceptable risk of diversion to developing weapons of mass destruction or the missiles used to deliver those weapons. Publishing this list puts exporters on notice of export license requirements that apply to exports to these parties. While this list will assist exporters in determining whether an entity poses proliferation concerns, it is not comprehensive. It does not relieve exporters of the responsibility to determine the nature and activities of their potential customers using BIS's Know Your Customer and Red Flags guidance.
Interagency groups involved in the export control process reviewed the activities of the published entities of concern and determined that certain exports to these entities would create an unacceptable risk of use in or diversion to prohibited proliferation-related activities. Publishing this entities list allows the U.S. government to identify for U.S. businesses some of the organizations and companies that may be involved in proliferation activities.
The development of a list of entities of concern arises from the EPCI initiative begun in 1990 to stem the spread of missile technology as well as nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Under EPCI the Commerce Department can impose licensing requirements on exports and reexports that otherwise would not require a license where there is an unacceptable risk of use in or diversion to activities related to nuclear, chemical or biological weapons or missile proliferation, even if the end user is not primarily weapons-related.
The Export Administration Regulations (EAR) provide that the Bureau of Industry and Security may inform exporters, individually or through amendment to the EAR, that a license is required for exports or reexports to certain entities. The EAR contains a list of such entities, known as the entities list.