EAR Export Compliance Software
Support your EAR compliance program from your ERP. ECCN classification on every item, restricted-party screening at order entry, and five-year export records.
The Export Administration Regulations (EAR) are the U.S. rules, administered by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, that govern the export, reexport, and in-country transfer of most commercial and dual-use items. They matter because a single misclassified part, an unscreened customer, or an undocumented technical-data transfer can trigger criminal penalties, multimillion-dollar fines, and loss of export privileges, so manufacturers need their item, customer, and shipment records to carry export controls as data, not as tribal knowledge.
Sound Familiar?
ECCN classification lives in someone's head
Export Control Classification Numbers get assigned on a spreadsheet that nobody updates when engineering revises a part, so a controlled dual-use item ships under the wrong ECCN and the EAR violation only surfaces during a Commerce Department audit years later.
Restricted-party screening happens too late
Sales books an order, the shop builds it, and only at the dock does someone manually check the Entity List, Denied Persons List, and Unverified List, so denied-party orders make it deep into production before anyone catches the EAR exposure.
Deemed exports of technical data go untracked
Drawings, BOMs, and routings move to foreign-national employees and overseas suppliers with no record of who accessed what, and a deemed export of EAR-controlled technology happens with zero documentation to show a BIS investigator.
Shipment records can't prove jurisdiction
When a customer or auditor asks which ECCN, license exception, or destination applied to a past shipment, the answer is scattered across email, a freight forwarder portal, and paper packing slips, so reconstructing the export record for a five-year EAR recordkeeping window becomes a manual project.
Core Capabilities
ECCN classification on every item
Carry the Export Control Classification Number, jurisdiction, and license-requirement flags as structured fields on each part, BOM line, and finished good. Because classification lives on the same versioned item record engineering and the shop floor already use, a revision never silently changes the export status of what you ship.
Restricted-party screening at order entry
Customer and vendor records hold the account, contact, and address data needed to screen against the Entity List, Denied Persons List, and Unverified List, so EAR exposure surfaces in the sales and purchasing workflow at quote and PO time instead of at the loading dock.
Controlled technical-data access
Drawings, multi-level BOMs, and routings are first-class records with access controls, so technology releases of EAR-controlled technical data, including deemed exports to foreign nationals, leave an auditable trail of who touched which revision and when.
Lot, serial, and shipment traceability
End-to-end lot and serial genealogy ties each controlled item from receiving through production to a lot-linked shipment with carrier tracking, so every export record connects the part, its ECCN, the destination, and the customer in one query.
Five-year recordkeeping and audit readiness
Quotes, orders, invoices with revision history, POs, receipts, work orders, inspections, and shipments persist as queryable records by part, customer, destination, or date range, so the EAR's five-year recordkeeping requirement is satisfied from live data instead of reassembled spreadsheets.
Quality and CAPA evidence for export holds
QC hold states, NCRs with a severity matrix, and 8-D CAPA tie export-compliance stops to the same quality records the plant runs against, so a classification error or a denied-party catch becomes a documented containment and corrective action, not an email thread.
By The Numbers
Largest combined civil and criminal export-control penalty (Seagate, 2023) for shipping EAR-controlled hard drives without a license
U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security
Minimum period the EAR (15 CFR Part 762) requires exporters to retain export-transaction records
U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (15 CFR Part 762)
Maximum prison term and up to $1M per violation in criminal penalties under the Export Control Reform Act for willful EAR violations
Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4819)
Connected Modules
Sales
Customer accounts, quotes, and orders hold the party and destination data needed to screen for denied parties and flag license requirements before an export commits.
Engineering
Versioned BOMs, drawings, and routings carry ECCN classification and access controls, so the export status of a part travels with its revision history.
Shipping
Lot-linked shipments with carrier tracking tie each exported item to its destination, customer, and ECCN, completing the export record for the five-year retention window.
Common Questions
What is EAR (the Export Administration Regulations)?
The Export Administration Regulations (EAR), codified at 15 CFR Parts 730 to 774, are the U.S. rules that control the export, reexport, and in-country transfer of commercial and dual-use items, software, and technology. They are administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) within the Department of Commerce and cover the vast majority of goods that are not exclusively military, which fall instead under the ITAR.
Who must comply with the EAR?
Any U.S. person or company that exports, reexports, or transfers items subject to the EAR must comply, which in practice means most manufacturers, distributors, and software companies that ship dual-use goods or share technical data across borders. Compliance also reaches foreign parties handling U.S.-origin items and applies to deemed exports, meaning releases of controlled technology to foreign nationals inside the United States.
What is an ECCN and how do I find mine?
An Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) is a five-character code on the Commerce Control List that identifies a controlled item by category and the reasons it is controlled, which together determine whether you need a license for a given destination. You classify a part by reviewing the Commerce Control List, requesting a classification from the manufacturer, or filing a classification request with BIS, and in WorkCell that ECCN is stored as a field on the item so it stays attached to every BOM and shipment.
What is the difference between the EAR and the ITAR?
The EAR, administered by Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, governs commercial and dual-use items, while the ITAR, administered by the State Department, governs defense articles and services on the U.S. Munitions List. Items move between the two regimes through export-control reform, so correctly determining jurisdiction for each part is the first step in any EAR or ITAR compliance program.
Is WorkCell an EAR-compliant or certified system?
WorkCell is not itself certified to any export-control standard; no software product is. Instead, WorkCell's features support your EAR compliance program by carrying ECCN classification on items, holding the customer and shipment data needed for restricted-party screening, controlling access to technical data, and retaining the export records the EAR requires, so your compliance team works from live operational data rather than disconnected spreadsheets.
How long must I keep export records under the EAR?
The EAR (15 CFR Part 762) requires exporters to retain records of export transactions for at least five years from the date of export, reexport, transfer, or other relevant event. WorkCell keeps quotes, orders, invoices, POs, work orders, inspections, and lot-linked shipments as queryable records by part, customer, or destination, so the five-year retention requirement is met from the system of record.
EAR Export Compliance Software
Make export classification and screening part of the same records your shop floor already runs against.