International Collaborations and Travel
Collaborations provide opportunities for sharing information and foreign travel in some instances. It is important to understand export control regulations and travel restrictions when facilitating collaborations with foreign entities.
Traveling outside the United States for professional reasons may require a license. This can depend upon:
- the destination (whether it is an embargoed country)
- the equipment or information that you will travel with or share
In general, if traveling to a country without sanctions to conduct fundamental research or present information that is or will be published or publicly available, you will not need a government-issued license. These activities typically fall under the Fundamental Research Exclusion.
Sanctioned countries
Travel to most countries will not require a government-issued license. If traveling to a sanctioned country, you will likely need a government-issued license. For a complete and current list of sanctioned countries, visit the U.S. Department of the Treasury: Sanctions Programs and Country Information page.
Contact us to determine licensing requirements as soon as possible.
Are you bringing equipment or data?
Export controlled equipment can include scientific equipment, laptops, PDAs, GPS, proprietary or complex software, software with encryption technology, prototypes, materials, components, hardware, or samples.
It is important to note, some export control licenses can take up to a year to obtain for certain technologies.
Export controlled data can include technical data, proprietary data, restricted data, unpublished data or data about export-controlled technologies.
When traveling, minimize risk by taking a clean laptop or mobile device and leave unnecessary and unpublished research data at UNC Asheville. If the piece of equipment is a “tool of the trade,” the traveler will need to certify to the University that the equipment falls into this category and will be leaving the country. Travelers will need to complete the University’s online temporary export exemption form.
If researchers have access to export controlled information, it is important that they do not discuss or disseminate this information abroad. Researchers can freely discuss only fundamental research information that has already been published or publicly available.
The University Export Decision Tool (under development) can help determine if any equipment or data is export controlled. Contact us to determine licensing requirements as soon as possible.
Travel authorization letters
Employees must comply with U.S. laws and regulations when traveling internationally on University of North Carolina at Asheville business. Travel authorization letters are given upon request to any students, faculty and staff traveling internationally. These letters are highly recommended for travel related to export-controlled projects. To request a travel letter, contact us.
Travel warnings
UNC Asheville strongly recommends against, but does not prohibit, travel to countries where the U.S. Department of State has issued an official Travel Warning, or where there is other reliable information of significant health or safety risks. The final decision about making a trip to such a country is up to the individual making the trip; however, UNC Asheville reserves the right to require the execution of an appropriate release or waiver before permitting such travel.