It is the policy of the University of Hawai‘i to press for maximum openness among agencies — governmental or private — that place any kind of restriction upon access to information of a scholarly character. However, Export Administration Regulations (EAR) promulgated and enforced by the Department of Commerce, and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) by the Department of State, prohibit the unlicensed export of specific technologies for reasons of national security or protection of trade.
If University research involves certain specified technologies, the EAR and/or ITAR may require the University to obtain prior approval from the State Department or Commerce before allowing foreign nationals to participate in the research, partnering with a foreign company and/or sharing research — verbally or in writing — with persons who are not United States citizens or permanent resident aliens. The consequences of violating these regulations can be severe, ranging from loss of research contracts to monetary penalties to jail time for the individual violating these regulations.
Export control regulations have the potential to harm the quality of University research, undermine publication rights, and prohibit international collaboration if the research is subject to ITAR/EAR, is not published or otherwise placed in the public domain, and does not qualify for the fundamental research exclusion. The University is working with other research institutions to exclude all fundamental university research from export regulation. Until such time as those efforts are successful, Principal Investigators should conduct a thorough review of research projects and contract provisions to determine whether and, if so how, a particular research project may be affected by those regulations. Principal Investigators have the following responsibilities:
- prior to commencing any research, to determine whether their research is impacted by the controls or requirements contained within export regulations, and
- to re-evaluate that determination before changing the scope or adding new staff to the project to determine if such changes alter the initial determination; and
- to make export determinations far enough in advance to obtain an authorization, should one be required, particularly when transferring scientific equipment, research materials or confidential information to researchers in other countries or accepting confidential information from private companies.
The Office of Research Services and the Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development will assist PIs in assessing the application of ITAR/EAR, but primary compliance responsibility rests with the Principal Investigator. The following links contain useful information to help in this task.