Who counts as a US person under these rules?

Nationals of the United States, lawful permanent residents and companies incorporated there. The term matters because releasing covered technical data to individuals who are not US persons already counts as an export under US law, no matter which country that release happens in.

What does the de minimis rule say?

It belongs to the Export Administration Regulations: a product manufactured outside the United States falls under US re-export control only once the value share of controlled US content passes a defined limit. For content covered by the arms regulations, that relief does not apply in the same way.

What does an ITAR-free question in a tender mean?

It asks whether a system contains content or technical data subject to US defense export law, because onward delivery and data access depend on the answer. It can be answered only product by product, through the bill of materials and the development history of the particular system.

Export control · US law

ITAR explained for Europe

Q: What do the International Traffic in Arms Regulations govern?

As US law they govern the export, re-export and transfer of items on the United States Munitions List, together with the technical data and defense services belonging to them. They sit in 22 CFR parts 120 to 130 and are administered by the State Department directorate for defense trade controls.

Q: Does a system of Israeli manufacture fall under ITAR automatically?

No. The rules attach to US origin, not to the home country of a manufacturer. What matters is whether parts, materials or technical data of US origin are contained. Conversely, manufacture outside the United States does not by itself make a product free of US control.

ITAR is US law. It binds US defense articles, technical data of US origin and US persons — and it reaches across the border wherever such elements sit inside a system.

Close-up of a canopy: a turquoise reinforcement panel edged with zigzag stitching, below it a webbing tab on the skirt where a yellow line attaches

What ITAR governs

The International Traffic in Arms Regulations are US law and sit in 22 CFR parts 120 to 130. They govern the export, re-export and transfer of items on the United States Munitions List, together with the technical data and the defense services that belong to them.

Three things are therefore covered: the article itself, the technical data describing it, and support services performed on such an article. The US Department of State administers the rules through its directorate for defense trade controls, where manufacturers, exporters and brokers are required to register.

Whom it binds

Bound in the first place are US persons: nationals, lawful permanent residents and companies incorporated in the United States. The obligation does not end at the border, though. It attaches to the covered article and to the covered data and carries on through every re-export and every transfer.

Transfer inside a company is covered as well: where technical data become accessible to individuals who are not US persons, US law already treats that as an export, irrespective of the country those individuals sit in.

EAR and the de minimis rule

Beside ITAR stand the Export Administration Regulations for dual-use items. For products manufactured outside the United States they provide a threshold: only once the value share of controlled US content passes a defined limit does the foreign product fall under US re-export control. That is the de minimis rule.

For content covered by the arms regulations this relief does not apply in the same way: a covered part or a covered data set pulls control into the system as a whole, even where its value share is small.

Why manufacture outside the United States is not automatically covered

ITAR attaches to US origin, not to an industry and not to the home country of a manufacturer. Systems of Israeli manufacture therefore do not fall under it automatically. What matters is whether parts, materials or technical data of US origin are contained, and whether the system grew out of a project in which such data were used.

The reverse holds as well: a product does not become free of US control merely because it was made outside the United States. The answer to that question is information about the bill of materials and the development history of a particular system — it can only be given product by product.

Where ITAR touches European projects

In practice the question surfaces at a small number of describable points:

A part or a material of US origin appears in the bill of materials.
Technical data come from a US source or from a US program.
A system containing US content is to be delivered onward to a further country.
The project runs inside a program with US participation or US funding.
Individuals without the necessary authorization would have access to covered technical data.

What this page does not say

This page explains an area of law. It assures neither a registration under ITAR nor freedom from ITAR-covered content, and it makes no declaration about any particular system.

Reliable information on that point belongs to the product documentation and comes from the manufacturer of the system in question, based on its bill of materials, its technical data and its development history.

Source: apcodefense.com (APCO Aviation), as of 25 September 2026.