Re: exporting scopes to NZ
Vtb after a phone call to the dept of commerce who are very helpfull, she told me exporting to NZ would be ok without a licence, I also came across this on another forum.
oh and 'pink glasses' Rose tinted of course.
Ufff... this one is a nightmare!!
I stand to be corrected if we have a Trade Compliance Professional on the site - and more to the point also being accused of being something of an anorak - but here's my take on things.
There are 40 countries that have signed up to the Wassenaar Agreement on Export Control for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods & Technologies (see
http://www.wassenaar.org/index.html). According to this agreement,
every item has what's called an Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) that determines the level of export control. In the US these export controls are administered by the Department of Commerce
Riflescopes for hunting, etc are classified as Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 0A987. This from the US Bureau of Industry & Security website:
What is the ECCN for riflescopes or hunting scopes?
ECCN 0A987 controls specific sighting devices, their associated optical elements, and adjustment mechanisms. Please see the entry for a detailed description of what is controlled. Sighting devices that are not specified in this ECCN or elsewhere on the Commerce Control List, and are not suject to the jurisdiction of the Department of State, are EAR99.
The full text of ECCN 0A987 can be found here:
http://www.uptodateregs.com/_eccn/ECCN.asp?ECCN=0A987 but basically the list of items controlled includes:
a. Telescopic sights.
b. Holographic sights.
c. Reflex or ``red dot'' sights.
d. Reticle sights.
e. Other sighting devices that contain optical elements.
f. Laser pointing devices designed for use on firearms.
g. Lenses, other optical elements and adjustment mechanisms for articles in paragraphs a, b, c, d or e.
So pretty much anything we stalkers might be interested in!
Knowing that these items are controlled, we then need to look at cross-referencing the ECCN with the country that we are trying to export them to. For this we can access the Commerce Control List here:
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/tex...view=text&node=15:2.1.3.4.24.0.1.5.27&idno=15 Now items under ECCN 0A987 are controlled under the Firearms Convention (FC), Crime Control (CC) and the United Nations Arms Embargo (UN). For our purposes, we only need to look at FC and CC (presuming you don't live in Iraq, North Korea or Uganda
)
If we go down the CCL until we get to Canada we see that there is an "X" in the box under FC1, so an export license is required.
If we look at the United Kingdom,(New zealand) however, there is no "X", so theoretically we could export the scope to the UK. Note the use of the word "theoretically".
Unfortunately, because you knowingly want to export the scope to Canada via the UK if BIS found out they would come down on you like the proverbial tonne of bricks! That aside, as a result of a number of high profile cases where sporting goods outfitters have been prosecuted under US Export Regulations, the chances of any of them exporting a scope to the UK without a license is slim anyway.
To make things even more complicated, if you want to export a scope with a 'tactical' reticle then you face another issue. The International Trade in Arms Regulations (ITAR) details the regulations covering the export of defence related equipment. In the US, those goods and technologies that constitute "defence related equipment" is governed by the US Munitions List (USML), which can be found here:
http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/regulations_laws/documents/consolidated_itar/Part_121.pdf Under Section 121.1 (General), Category I(f) states that included in the USML are:
Riflescopes manufactured to military specifications
The trick being that no-one can decide what "military specifications" actually means. The net result, however, is that your chances of getting a scope exported that has a Mil-Dot reticle or similar are minimal at best.
The good news (I saved this until last) is that mounts for optical sights are classified as EAR99, so there are no export controls in place on them
