Abstract:
A system includes a server for receiving license determination requests and providing export license determinations in response to the requests. Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the present invention.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    Many countries issue regulations on international trade. For instance, the United States issues Export Administration Regulations (EAR) relating to the control of certain exports, re-exports, and activities. The export-control provisions of the EAR are intended to serve national security, foreign policy, nonproliferation, and short supply interests of the United States and, in some cases, to carry out its international obligations. Some controls are designed to restrict access to dual use items by countries or persons that might apply such items to uses inimical to U.S. interests. These include controls designed to stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and controls de-signed to limit the military and terrorism support capability of certain countries. The effectiveness of many of the controls under the EAR is enhanced by their being maintained as part of multilateral control arrangements. Multilateral export control cooperation is sought through arrangements such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group, and the Missile Technology Control Regime. The EAR also include some export controls to protect the United States from the adverse impact of the unrestricted export of commodities in short supply.  
           [0002]    The EAR may require a license to a country if a product is listed on the Commerce Control List (CCL) and if a Country Chart (specified in the EAR) indicates that a license is required to that country. Virtually all Export Con-trol Classification Numbers (ECCN) on the CCL are covered by the Country Chart. These ECCNs state the specific countries that require a license.  
           [0003]    Large companies usually maintain staffs of administrators to ensure compliance with export control laws. Before a product can be exported, an administrator must determine whether an export license is needed, whether one is already in place, whether additional assurances are needed, whether the export is prohibited, etc. Maling this determination is slow and manually intensive, especially for a company that sells a large number and variety of products to many different countries. Not only does this determination involve U.S. laws, but it usually involves local exporting country laws as well.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    A system includes a server for receiving license determination requests and providing export license determinations in response to the requests. Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 is an illustration of an export license determination server.  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 2 is an illustration of events and corresponding responses by the server.  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 3 is an illustration of an exemplary license determination table for the server. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0008]    As shown in the drawings for the purpose of illustration, the present invention is embodied in a server for making export license determinations. The server receives information about a pending transaction and determines the transaction is covered by an existing license, whether an export license is needed, or whether other manual work is needed for the transactions. The export license determination is computerized; therefore, the amount of work (especially redundant work) for export administration personnel is mimmized. The server can be on-line 24 hours a day, seven days a week; therefore, export license determinations can be made at any time. The server may offer broad connectivity to multiple client platforms by a web-based, standard interface. The server may include an engine that is table-driven. Making the engine table-driven reduces the amount of hard-coded logic, and simplifies maintenance of the data used for making export license determinations. Tables used by the engine may be centralized. Centralized tables should lead to license determinations that are consistent.  
         [0009]    Reference is made to FIG. 1, which illustrates an export license determination server  10 . The server  10  includes a network interface  12  that is connected to a network  14 . There is no limitation as to the type of network  14 . For example, the network  14  can be a corporate intranet or the Internet.  
         [0010]    The server  10  provides an export license determination engine  16 , a license determination table  18 , a license portfolio table  20 , and a country group table  22 . The network interface  12  receives information about pending transactions via the network  14 , and passes the information to the engine  16 . The engine  16  uses the tables  18 ,  20  and  22  to make an export license determination with respect to the transaction.  
         [0011]    The pending transaction might be the sale of a product to a destination country. The transaction information may include a destination country. The server  10  uses the country group table  22  to determine a country group for the destination country. A country group may include one or more countries.  
         [0012]    The transaction information may also include either a product classification group or a product identifier (which allows the classification group to be ascertained). The classification group may be supplied directly to the server  10 . In the alternative the server  10  may send a product identifier to another program, which ascertains the classification group. One such program is disclosed in U.S. Serial No. ______ filed concurrently herewith (Attorney Docket No. 10012302-1). A classification group may be an ECCN or any other designation.  
         [0013]    The license determination table  18  includes a series of cells. Each cell indicates a license determination for a particular country group and classification group. A license determination might indicate that a license is not needed, a license is needed but is already in place, manual work is needed (e.g., a license is needed and must be executed, additional assurances are needed to comply with controlling export laws), a transaction is not allowed, etc.  
         [0014]    If the license determination indicates that no manual work is needed (that is, the transaction complies with all export regulations), details of the transaction may be stored in a transaction data database  26 . If the license determination indicates that further work is needed, details of the transaction may be stored in a work buffer  24 . The transaction may remain in the work buffer  24  until another event occurs. As a first example, the transaction may remain in the work buffer  24  until additional manual work brings the transaction into compliance with all export regulations (e.g., an export license is executed). Once the transaction is brought into compliance, it is moved from the work buffer  24  to the transaction data database  26 . As a second example, the transaction is deleted from the work buffer  24  if the transaction is cancelled.  
         [0015]    The license determination table  18  may be generated by a select group of export administration personnel, and it may be stored in a central location, so that only one table is used by the export license determination engine  16 . Centralized decision-making should lead to consistent determinations. Because the export license determination engine  16  is table-driven, the license determinations may be updated (e.g., due to changes in laws, addition of new licenses, lapsing of old licenses) without rewriting the engine  16  or the interface  12 .  
         [0016]    The license portfolio table  20  stores electronic versions of export licenses that are referenced by the license determination table  18 .  
         [0017]    There may be one or more license determination tables  18 , and there may be one or more license portfolio tables  20 . There may be different tables  18  and  20  for different exporting countries.  
         [0018]    The server  10  may be implemented in any number of ways. For example, the server  10  may be a part of a larger enterprise system, which includes network-attached storage (NAS) devices or other storage machines. The license determination table  18 , the license portfolio table  20  and the country group table  22  (as well as the work buffer  24 , the transaction data database  26  and an audit trail database  32  mentioned below) may be stored in the NAS devices or the other storage machines. The server  10  may be a single computer or it may be run as a distributed logic/data system having several computers.  
         [0019]    Other transaction information supplied to the server  10  might include ship-to-address, ship-from-address, contract party, and deliver-to-address. This information may be used for audit and legal reporting purposes. This information also facilitates manual follow-ups whenever necessary (as in the case of individual validated licenses).  
         [0020]    The transaction information may be supplied by any client  28 ,  30  that can connect to the server  10 . The clients may be personal computers and workstations that are connected to the server  10  via the network  14 . Certain clients could include calling applications  28  (e.g., other software applications that make requests for license determinations). In the alternative, calling applications may be integrated with the server  10 .  
         [0021]    Clients could include web browsers  30  that allow individuals to request license determinations. For example, the interface  12  may include XML files that are downloaded and displayed by the web browsers  30 . The XML files would allow the web browsers  30  to enter the transaction information. The web browsers  30  may also display the license determinations and licenses stored in the license portfolio table  20 .  
         [0022]    The web browser  30  also allows export administration personnel to access the server  10 . Certain export administration personnel may be authorized to update the tables  18 - 22 . Others personnel may be authorized to check their portion of the work buffer  24  to determine which transactions need manual attention.  
         [0023]    The server  10  may perform functions other than making license determinations. When a transaction is shipped, details of the transaction may be moved from the transaction date database  26  to the audit trail database  32 .  
         [0024]    The server  10  offers broad connectivity to multiple client platforms by web-based, standard interface. If the server  10  is on-line 24 hours a day, license determinations and related services may be requested at any time.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 2 shows a number of events, and actions taken by the server  10  in response to the events. The events include (1) quote, (2) order entry, (3) change order, (4) cancel order, (5) pre-shipment, (6) shipment, (7) backlog check, (8) manual release, and (9) legal update. The first six events are initiated by calling applications. When a quote or order entry is placed, a calling application supplies transaction data to the server  10 . In response, the server  10  makes an export license determination and notifies the calling application of the license determination. If “hold” is the export license determination, details of the order are stored in the work buffer  24 . If “okay” is the determination the details of the order are placed in the transaction data database  26 .  
         [0026]    Shortly before an order is shipped, a calling application requests the server  10  to perform a clearance check, to ensure that the order still complies with export regulations. The server  10 , which already has the transaction data, returns a license determination. If “okay” is the determination, the shipment is allowed to proceed.  
         [0027]    When the order is shipped, a calling application informs the server of this event, and the server  10  returns a status to the calling application. The server  10  also causes the details of the order to be moved from the transaction date database  26  to the audit trail database  32 .  
         [0028]    Usually an order is not shipped immediately after it is placed. Time will elapse. During that time, the order might be changed, or it might be cancelled. If the order is cancelled, a calling application informs the server  10  of this event. In response, the server  10  permanently removes the transaction details of the cancelled order from the work buffer  24  or the transaction data database  26 . The server  10  also informs the calling application of the actions taken (status).  
         [0029]    If the order is changed, a calling application informs the server  10  of this event. In response, the server  10  re-evaluates the order for compliance with export regulations. That is, an export license determination is performed on the changed order. The server  10  also informs the calling application of the actions taken.  
         [0030]    The seventh event, the backlog check, is internal to the server  10 . The server  10  may schedule the backlog check periodically (e.g., once a day). During a backlog check, export license determinations for all transactions in the work buffer  24  and the transaction data database  26  are performed. Instead of waiting for the backlog check to be performed at its scheduled time, the backlog may be checked immediately by initiating a manual release (the eighth event).  
         [0031]    The eighth and ninth events (legal update) are initiated by a user such as an export administrator. If an export regulation is changed, the user causes the server  10  to perform an export license determination on each order in the work buffer  24  and the transaction data database  26 . A legal update would occur, for example, if a country is moved to a list of embargoed countries. For any pending transactions concerning the newly embargoed country, transaction details would be moved from the transaction data database  26  to the work buffer  24 .  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 3 shows one way in which the license determination table  18  may be organized: as a matrix  110 . Country groups extend along one axis, and the classification groups extend along the other axis. Each cell  112  of the matrix  110  contains license information. Each row corresponds to a single country group and contains different license determinations for different classification groups. For example, one row might correspond to a group of embargoed countries. Each column corresponds to a single classification group and contains different license determinations for different country groups.  
         [0033]    For example, one cell  112  might indicate that a license is not needed for the corresponding country group and classification. The license determination for that country group would be “NLR” (no license required).  
         [0034]    Another cell  112  might indicate that a license is already in place for a given country group and classification group. The server  10  will then check the license portfolio table  20  to determine whether an actual license is available and its parameters match the given transactions. If the parameters match, the license determination for that country group and classification will be “okay.” If there is no match, the license determination for that country group and classification will be “hold” and the transaction will be placed in the work buffer  24  until further action is taken (e.g. applying for and adding the actual license into the license portfolio table  20 ).  
         [0035]    Another cell  112  might indicate that a license is in place, but the product could be used for military as well as civilian purposes. The license determination for that country and product would be “hold,” and the transaction would be placed in the work buffer  24  until further action was taken (e.g., ensuring that the product would be used for civilian use only). It might also indicate the country in which the additional work is needed.  
         [0036]    The matrix  110  shown in FIG. 3 contains thirty cells  112 . In practice, any number of cells  112  may be used.  
         [0037]    Although a specific embodiment of the present invention has been described and illustrated, the present invention is not limited to the specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated. Instead, the present invention is construed according to the claims that follow.