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Iran Guidance

Basic Principles

Interactions with individuals of embargoed, sanctioned, or prohibited countries (e.g., Iran) generally pose significant risk and must be approved by the export control office in advance of initiation of a potential activity.

Iran is subject to regulations that are administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC) having a general rule that transactions of value (payments, providing services, collaborations) with such foreign persons are prohibited without a license from the U.S. government.

For interactions with enrolled students on-campus, limit release of information to:
– general scientific, mathematical or engineering principles commonly taught in schools, colleges and universities,
– information that is already lawfully in the public domain, and
– research that qualifies as basic research and fundamental research.

For interactions with enrolled students on-campus, limit release of software to:
– open-source software or software that has been determined to have an export control classification of EAR99, and
– software that is ordinarily incident and necessary to the educational program in which the student is enrolled.

In certain situations, interactions may be allowable by limiting collaborations to written publications such as academic papers, books, or dissertations. While, in certain situations, the regulations allow academics to collaborate with Iranians who are ordinarily resident in Iran on the creation of written publications without the need to obtain a specific license, it does not allow the exportation from or importation into the U.S. of services for the development, production, or design of software.

Ask before Acting

When a foreign person who is a citizen or resident of Iran is involved in any way, members of the Boise State community must check with the export control office prior to:

    • initiating research or any project that is not intended to be published freely and openly with broad distribution
    • initiating Applied Research (e.g., research which relates to an item on the commerce control list (CCL) or a defense article such as an item on the U.S. Munitions List (USML))
    • sharing export controlled information (e.g., technical data that is not lawfully in the public domain)
    • sharing proprietary data or derivations thereof (e.g., nonpublic data which arises out of proprietary activities)
    • sharing compartmentalized data or derivations thereof (e.g., nonpublic data which arises out of different activities or is from other researchers)
    • providing an item that is not commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) (e.g., items which have an aspect that is specifically/specially designed, manufactured, modified, or configured)
    • providing software (e.g., a segment of code, an executable, software owned/distributed by someone else)
    • modifying software code for a scientific, technical, or engineering application/purpose (e.g., enhancement of EAR99 code)
    • disclosing specialized knowledge of design methodology for items on the CCL or USML
    • disclosing specialized knowledge of engineering analysis for items on the CCL or USML
    • disclosing specialized knowledge of manufacturing know-how for items on the CCL or USML
    • initiating anything related to the energy industry (e.g., pipelines, oil services, petrochemical, crude oil, natural gas, nuclear)
    • initiating anything with a military, space, intelligence, or nuclear aspect (even mere visual/physical access to a controlled item)
    • anything related to an Iranian financial institution, the government of Iran, or an agency thereof
    • attempting importation of goods or services from Iran