Export control  Export control is an area of legislation that regulates the export of goods, software and technology. Some items could be potentially useful for purposes that are contrary the interest of the exporting country. These items are considered to be "controlled". The controlled items are prevented to some degree from being sent to destinations where it is perceived they will be used in a harmful way. Many governments in the world implement Export Controls. Typically there will be legislation that causes potential exporters of controlled items to make a request to a local government department, and that department will assess the desired exports and either grant or deny licences as appropriate. Export control has been in place in the USA since the time of the American Revolution, although the modern export control regimes can be traced back to the "Trading with Enemies Act" in the USA in 1917, and the "Import, Export and Customs Power (Defense) Act" of UK in 1939 A significant piece of legislation was the USA Export Control Act of 1940 which "inter alia" aimed to restrict shipments of material to pre-war Japan. In most export control regimes, there is legislation that lists many items which are deemed 'controlled', and lists destinations to which sending items is restricted, by different degrees. The lists of what is controlled sometimes arise from some Harmonised Regime. Usually goods are subject to categorisation such as the USA's Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) or India's SCOMET list or Japan's METI lists. Some items will be considered "Designed or modified for military use", some will be considered Dual Use, and some will not be export controlled. Dual Use means that the device has both a civilian and a military purpose. In several jurisdictions, the classifications will consider Goods, Equipment, Materials, Software and Technology. The last two are often considered intangible. Classifications may also be by destination purpose, including cryptography, Laser, and torture equipment. Each exporting country will have different relationships with other countries as per International Relations. Sometimes countries will have Trade agreements or arrangements with a group of other countries, and this agreement means there are no licences required for certain goods. For example, within the EU licences are not required for shipping civilian goods to other member states, however for restricted, military goods licences are required. For any exporting country, some destination countries may be Sanctioned, some may require Licences, some may require record keeping (e.g. using an OGEL) and some have no restrictions. The End User of the goods, or some 'broker' will typically be declared, and similar restrictions apply as to countries.