[1] A number of the key ITAR provisions regarding parties that are subject to the Brokering Regulations are as follows.
ITAR §129.2(b) provides as follows: “(b) Brokering activities means any action on behalf of another to facilitate the manufacture, export, permanent import, transfer, reexport, or retransfer of a U.S. or foreign defense article or defense service, regardless of its origin.
(1) Such action includes, but is not limited to:
(i) Financing, insuring, transporting, or freight forwarding defense articles and defense services; or
(ii) Soliciting, promoting, negotiating, contracting for, arranging, or otherwise assisting in the purchase, sale, transfer, loan, or lease of a defense article or defense service.
(2) Such action does not include:
(i) Activities by a U.S. person in the United States that are limited exclusively to U.S. domestic sales or transfers (e.g., not for export);
(ii) Activities by employees of the U.S. Government acting in an official capacity;
(iii) Activities by regular employees (see § 120.39 of this subchapter) acting on behalf of their employer, including those regular employees who are dual nationals or third-country nationals that satisfy the requirements of § 126.18 of this subchapter;
Note to paragraph (b)(2)(iii): The exclusion does not apply to persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction with respect to activities involving a defense article or defense service originating in or destined for any proscribed country, area, or person identified in § 126.1 of this subchapter.
(iv) Activities that do not extend beyond administrative services, such as providing or arranging office space and equipment, hospitality, advertising, or clerical, visa, or translation services, collecting product and pricing information to prepare a response to Request for Proposal, generally promoting company goodwill at trade shows, or activities by an attorney that do not extend beyond the provision of legal advice to clients;
(v) Activities performed by an affiliate, as defined in § 120.40 of this subchapter, on behalf of another affiliate;
(vi) Activities by persons, including their regular employees (see § 120.39 of this subchapter), that do not extend beyond acting as an end-user of a defense article or defense service exported pursuant to a license or other approval under parts 123, 124, or 125 of this subchapter, or subsequently acting as a reexporter or retransferor of such article or service under such license or other approval, or under an approval pursuant to § 123.9 of this subchapter;
(vii) Activities by persons to facilitate the manufacture in the United States or export of an item subject to the EAR; or
(viii) Activities by persons to facilitate the reexport or transfer of an item subject to the EAR that has been approved pursuant to a license, license exception, or no license required authorization under the EAR or a license or other approval under this subchapter.”
ITAR § 129.2(a) provides as follows: “(a) Broker means any person (see § 120.14 of this subchapter) described below who engages in the business of brokering activities:
(1) Any U.S. person (see § 120.15 of this subchapter) wherever located;
(2) Any foreign person (see § 120.16 of this subchapter) located in the United States; or
(3) Any foreign person located outside the United States where the foreign person is owned or controlled by a U.S. person.
Note to paragraph (a)(3): For purposes of this paragraph, “owned by a U.S. person” means more than 50 percent of the outstanding voting securities of the firm are owned by a U.S. person, and “controlled by a U.S. person” means one or more U.S. persons have the authority or ability to establish or direct the general policies or day-to-day operations of the firm. U.S. person control is rebuttably presumed to exist where U.S. persons own 25 percent or more of the outstanding voting securities unless one foreign person controls an equal or larger percentage.”
ITAR §129.3(b) and (c) provide as follows: “(b) Exemptions. Registration, approval, recordkeeping, and reporting under this section are not required for:
(1) Foreign governments or international organizations, including their employees, acting in an official capacity; or
(2) Persons exclusively in the business of financing, insuring, transporting, customs brokering, or freight forwarding, whose activities do not extend beyond financing, insuring, transporting, customs brokering, or freight forwarding. Examples include air carriers or freight forwarders that merely transport or arrange transportation for licensed defense articles, and banks or credit companies who merely provide commercially available lines or letters of credit to persons registered or required to register in accordance with parts 122 or 129 of this subchapter. However, banks, firms, or other persons providing financing for defense articles or defense services are required to register under certain circumstances, such as when the bank or its employees are directly involved in arranging transactions involving defense articles or defense services or hold title to defense articles, even when no physical custody of defense articles is involved. In such circumstances, the banks, firms, or other persons providing financing for defense articles or defense services are not exempt.
(c) Persons exempt from registration, approval, recordkeeping, and reporting as provided in § 129.3(b) are subject to the policy on embargoes and other proscriptions as outlined in § 129.7.”