To find the ECCN number for a product, first confirm the item is not on the U.S. Munitions List. Then pick its Commerce Control List (CCL) category (0–9) and product group (A–E), read the candidate entries, and match the paragraph whose technical parameters the item meets. If no entry describes it after that review, the item is EAR99. The steps below follow the order the regulation itself sets.
Every item exported from the United States, or re-exported from abroad when it contains U.S. content, needs an export classification before anyone can say whether a licence is required. For most commercial products that classification is an Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) on the CCL, or EAR99 when no entry describes the item. (For what an ECCN is and how the system works overall, see ECCN classification explained.)
No authority assigns an ECCN to your product automatically. Whether you call it finding, getting or determining the ECCN number (in German, "ECCN-Nummer ermitteln"), the task is the same: you work it out from the CCL, or ask BIS to do it for you.
What do you need before you find an ECCN number?
An ECCN is decided by what the item is and what it can do. What it is called and who buys it do not decide it. Gather these facts first:
- whether it is a physical product (equipment, part, component, material), software, or technology (technical data or know-how), since the CCL treats them in different product groups
- its function and technical parameters, such as frequencies, speeds, accuracies, operating temperatures, processing performance and encryption functions, because the CCL is written in these terms
- its design history: whether it was developed for a military or space application, or specially designed for another controlled item
- any information-security function, since encryption for confidentiality points to Category 5, Part 2
Datasheets and published specifications are usually enough. You do not need, and should not share, controlled technical data to classify an item.
Step 1: Settle jurisdiction (ITAR or EAR?)
Classification starts with jurisdiction. If the item is a defense article described on the U.S. Munitions List (USML), it is controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and has no ECCN. Only when the item is not on the USML does it become subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). See ITAR vs. EAR: which regulation controls your item? for how to make that call, and when to ask for a commodity jurisdiction determination.
Step 2: Follow the Order of Review
Supplement No. 4 to Part 774 of the EAR sets the Order of Review. In short, check the USML first. Then check the "600 series" entries (military items moved from the USML), then the 9x515 spacecraft entries, then the rest of the CCL. Only if nothing matches is the item EAR99.
The order exists because a more specific entry takes precedence over a general one. An item that fits a 600 series entry is classified there even if a general entry could also describe it. The 600 series classification guide covers those entries.
Step 3: Choose the CCL category (0–9)
The CCL is divided into ten categories by technology area. Pick every category that could plausibly apply.
| Category | Technology area |
|---|---|
| 0 | Nuclear materials, facilities and equipment, and miscellaneous items |
| 1 | Special materials, chemicals, microorganisms and toxins |
| 2 | Materials processing |
| 3 | Electronics |
| 4 | Computers |
| 5 | Telecommunications (Part 1) and information security (Part 2) |
| 6 | Sensors and lasers |
| 7 | Navigation and avionics |
| 8 | Marine |
| 9 | Aerospace and propulsion |
The ten CCL categories explained gives examples of what sits in each.
Step 4: Choose the product group (A–E)
Inside each category, entries are grouped by what the item is:
- A: systems, equipment and components
- B: test, inspection and production equipment
- C: materials
- D: software
- E: technology
Software is never classified in group A, and technology is never classified in group D. The product group follows from what you are exporting. See CCL product groups A–E.
Step 5: Read the candidate entries and match the paragraph
Now read the entries in that category and group. Each entry has a heading, a list of controls (the reasons for control), related definitions and, most important of all, the Items paragraph with the technical parameters. An entry describes the item only if the item meets the paragraph's parameters. Matching the heading is not enough. A radio receiver is not 5A001 because it is a radio; it is 5A001.b.5 only if it has every characteristic that paragraph lists.
Two things decide many cases. The first is the definition of "specially designed" in § 772.1, a two-step test of "catch" and "release" that determines whether parts, components and software are controlled with the item they are made for. See the specially designed definition.
The second is notes and exclusions. Many entries exclude items by note (for example, equipment specially designed for civil use), so read them before concluding.
How to read an ECCN entry walks through the structure of an entry field by field.
Step 6: Check the "catch-all" 9xx entries
If the item does not meet a multilateral entry (the 0xx–5xx numbers), check the entries numbered 9xx in the same category and group, such as 3A992 or 5A991. These are controlled mainly for anti-terrorism reasons and often catch commercial items that fall below the multilateral thresholds.
Step 7: Conclude with the ECCN or EAR99
If an entry and paragraph describe the item, that is its ECCN, for example 5A992.c (the ECCN number structure explains how to read a code like this). If no entry describes it after you have reviewed every category and group that could apply, the item is EAR99: subject to the EAR but not listed.
EAR99 has to be reached by that review. It is never a default. See What is EAR99? for the meaning and how to confirm an item is EAR99 for the check.
Step 8: Record how you got there
Write down the entry, the paragraph, the parameters you compared, the version of the regulation you used and the date. If a customs officer, an auditor or BIS asks, that record is your justification. It also lets you revisit the decision when the CCL changes.
Shortcuts and their limits
The manufacturer's ECCN
Many manufacturers publish ECCNs for their products. It is a good starting point, but you remain responsible for the classification you use. See where manufacturers publish their ECCNs.
The CCL alphabetical index
BIS publishes an Alphabetical Index to the Commerce Control List, which lists commodities by name with the entries they may fall under. (The CCL itself is Supplement No. 1 to Part 774.) The index is useful to find candidate entries and is never a classification on its own. See ECCN lookup: how to look up an ECCN.
A formal ruling
When the answer is genuinely unclear, BIS will classify the item on request. See self-classification vs. a BIS request.
Finding an ECCN in ECCN.help
The ECCN.help Classification Workflow follows this same sequence: ITAR vs. EAR first, then the category and product group, then the candidate entries and the paragraph the item meets. It asks only what the regulation turns on and shows the rule that decided every answer. It is rule-based, with no AI, and every account includes five classifications. The How to use page has three worked examples: a cryogenic bearing, a consumer Wi-Fi router and an EAR99 water bottle.
ECCN.help provides research and assistance, not legal advice. Verify every result against the regulation and obtain a formal classification where the stakes require one.