Export restrictions on uBlox modules?

[espena]

Hi!

Upon submitting an order to Mouser last week, the shipment was halted awaiting a so-called "export review". I contacted them, and learned that the offending item was an uBlox LEA-M8T GPS timing module. Fearing that such review may add days and weeks to the delivery time, I just asked custom service to pull the M8T off the pick list and proceed with the rest of the order - which they did. No worries.

But the thing is: I live i Norway, and there are no export restrictions on GPS technology to Norwegian buyers (as far as I know). So, I am about to re-order the part in a seperate shipment from Mouser and wait for the review. But before doing that, I'd like to check if anyone here has had a similar experience, and whether I should bother waiting for the export review to complete.

If the order is likely to be rejected from US suppliers, I'd rather spend time finding a domestic or European distributor.

[Benta]

You do know that uBlox is Swiss, right? So why send stuff twice across the Atlantic?

Apart from that, there's a lot of focus on "shadow exports" right now, where parts a being shipped to Turkey or Kazakhstan and then reexported to Russia. There's an effort in the pipeline to stop his traffic, which makes distis nervous.

[uer166]

UBlox specifically shows up often in Russian drones, it's not surprising they're putting extra effort there.

It definitely helps ordering from a local disty: much less hassle to cross borders.

[ArdWar]

u-Blox modules got non EAR99 ECCN code. So if you're shipping from US to somewhere outside you'll sometimes get a question or two from their export compliance department. Regardless if your country got restriction or not.

It's usually only an email or two with their rep, doing what's basically a pinky promise. Unless you're super suspicious that is. At worst you need to tell them what you're going to use the module for.

This also apply to other components, and sometimes it might be surprising what kind of components are not EAR99 (ARM MCUs for example, but they rarely cause your order to be held up). So, watch out!

[tszaboo]

Hi!

Upon submitting an order to Mouser last week, the shipment was halted awaiting a so-called "export review". I contacted them, and learned that the offending item was an uBlox LEA-M8T GPS timing module.

I wouldn't be offended. Many companies will re-export them to countries that make despicable Shahed drones, and which are under export restrictions. Just prove your use case. We have to starve these economies of these components, agree or not, it was the decision of the EU/USA.

[jc101]

If you use the local Norway sales office you may get a better price too.

More Electronics Oslo according to the U-Blox website https://www.u-blox.com/en/about-us/sales-network-offices/norway

[Solder_Junkie]

I ordered a Neo M8T from Mouser last September without any delay or issues.

SJ

[cedinu]

You can also buy from https://gnss.store/45-lea-m8t-timing-gnss-modules
No relationship whatsoever with them except satisfied customer. They are in Latvia.

[Doctorandus_P]

Some 8 to 10 years ago I ordered some beaglebones from mouser, wondered why I had not received them after two months, started digging and found some message that they wanted me to promise I'm not a terrorist.

I canceled the order and bought them from within the EU. I think it was from Antratek, a local company in the Netherlands.

But you can't really blame mouser. It's the USA laws that forces companies to jump over paperwork piles.

[ajb]

But the thing is: I live i Norway, and there are no export restrictions on GPS technology to Norwegian buyers (as far as I know).

It's not just about the destination country.  US export laws also require the exporter to check that the recipient individual or organization isn't on a list of restricted entities, and that the item(s) aren't going to be re-exported to a restricted destination or entity.  As others have alluded, current efforts to restrict anything that could end up in a Russian or Iranian munition is going to end up making distributors extra cautions around things like GPS modules. 

u-Blox modules got non EAR99 ECCN code. So if you're shipping from US to somewhere outside you'll sometimes get a question or two from their export compliance department. Regardless if your country got restriction or not.

 

As a rule of thumb, the higher the last three digits of the ECCN are, the less restricted the item generally is.  7A994 is going to be fairly lightly restricted, at least under normal conditions, but current geopolitical situation being what it is does complicate things.