Know your recipient

Exports should never be made to unknown or uncertain recipients. Often, foreign nationals may send requests to Duke faculty for technical data. It is your responsibility to know who the recipient of your data is and for what purpose it will be used.

The following issues address aspects of "knowing your recipient" and helping you ensure compliance.

Restricted Party Screening

It is illegal to conduct business with any entities or individuals who have been barred by the government. All parties should be screened to ensure compliance with the law.  For more information about screening the debarred lists, contact us.

End-User Certification

It is illegal to provide controlled goods or technical data to an individual or entity where there may be reason to believe that the recipient may forward it to another country or foreign national, also known as a reexport. For example, it has been determined that no license is required to share controlled data with a Canadian citizen. However, you know that the individual will be continuing research in Cuba in the near future. You may be held liable for an illegal re-export to Cuba. When in doubt, obtain an End-User Certificate from your recipient.

Red Flags

Be alert to red flags from requesting institutions or e-mails.  Examples of red flags are:

  • The requestor is reluctant to offer information regarding the end-use of the goods or technical data
  • The requested information does not fit the requestor's line of business.
  • The goods or technical data is incompatible with the technical level of the country to which it is being shipped, such as semiconductor manufacturing technology being shipped to a country that has no electronics industry.
  • The customer is willing to pay cash for technical data.
  • The customer is unfamiliar with the terminology of a field but still requests technical data.
  • When questioned, the buyer is evasive and/or unclear about the need for the goods or technical data.
  • E-mails from domains such as Yahoo, Gmail, etc, when it would appear that the requestor should have a .edu or business.com e-mail address

Dual Citizenship

Generally, the government defines an individual’s country as the last country in which the individual has established permanent residency. However, the government has been known to deny license applications based on an individual’s country of birth. Any concerns over dual citizenship should be addressed to the Office of Export Controls.