All parties that participate in transactions subject to the EAR must comply with the EAR. Parties are free to structure transactions as they wish, and to delegate functions and tasks as they deem necessary, as long as the transaction complies with the EAR. However, acting through a forwarding or other agent, or delegating or redelegating authority, does not in and of itself relieve anyone of responsibility for compliance with the EAR.

Export transactions. The U.S. principal party in interest is the exporter, except in certain routed transactions. The exporter must determine licensing authority (License, License Exception, or NLR), and obtain the appropriate license or other authorization. The exporter may hire forwarding or other agents to perform various tasks, but doing so does not necessarily relieve the exporter of compliance responsibilities.

Routed export transactions. All provisions of the EAR, including the end-use and end-user controls found in part 744 of the EAR, and the General Prohibitions found in part 736 of the EAR, apply to routed export transactions. The U.S. principal party in interest is the exporter and must determine licensing authority (License, License Exception, or NLR), and obtain the appropriate license or other authorization, unless the U.S. principal party in interest obtains from the foreign principal party in interest a writing wherein the foreign principal party in interest expressly assumes responsibility for determining licensing requirements and obtaining license authority, making the U.S. agent of the foreign principal party in interest the exporter for EAR purposes. One writing may cover multiple transactions between the same principals. See § 748.4(a)(3) of the EAR.

Information sharing requirements. In routed export transactions where the foreign principal party in interest assumes responsibility for determining and obtaining licensing authority, the U.S. principal party in interest must, upon request, provide the foreign principal party in interest and its forwarding or other agent with the correct Export Control Classification Number (ECCN), or with sufficient technical information to determine classification. In addition, the U.S. principal party in interest must provide the foreign principal party in interest or the foreign principal's agent any information that it knows will affect the determination of license authority, see § 758.1(g) of the EAR.

Power of attorney or other written authorization. In routed export transactions, a forwarding or other agent that represents the foreign principal party in interest, or who applies for a license on behalf of the foreign principal party in interest, must obtain a power of attorney or other written authorization from the foreign principal party in interest to act on its behalf. See § 748.4(b)(2) and § 758.1(h) of the EAR.