{"data":{"id":"us/22-cfr-120.3","jurisdiction":"us","citation":"22 CFR 120.3","heading":"Policy on designating or determining defense articles and services on the U.S. Munitions List.","body":"(a) For purposes of this subchapter, a specific article or service may be designated a defense article (see § 120.31) or defense service (see § 120.32) if it:\n(1) Meets the criteria of a defense article or defense service on the U.S. Munitions List (USML) (part 121 of this subchapter); or\n(2) Provides the equivalent performance capabilities of a defense article on the USML.\n(b) For purposes of this subchapter, a specific article or service shall be determined in the future as a defense article or defense service if it provides a critical military or intelligence advantage such that it warrants control under this subchapter.\nNote 1 to paragraphs (a) and (b):\nAn article or service determined in the future pursuant to this subchapter as a defense article or defense service, but not currently on the USML, will be placed in Category XXI of § 121.1 of this subchapter until the appropriate category of the USML has been amended to provide the necessary entry.\n(c) A specific article or service is not a defense article or defense service for purposes of this subchapter if it:\n(1) Is determined to be under the jurisdiction of another department or agency of the U.S. Government (see § 120.5) pursuant to a commodity jurisdiction determination (see § 120.4) unless superseded by changes to the USML or by a subsequent commodity jurisdiction determination; or\n(2) Meets one of the criteria of § 120.41(b) when the article is used in or with a defense article and specially designed is used as a control criteria.\nNote 2 to § 120.3:\nThe intended use of the article or service after its export (i.e., for a military or civilian purpose), by itself, is not a factor in determining whether the article or service is subject to the controls of this subchapter.","path":["Title 22—Foreign Relations","CHAPTER I—DEPARTMENT OF STATE","SUBCHAPTER M—INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC IN ARMS REGULATIONS","PART 120—PURPOSE AND DEFINITIONS","Subpart A—General Information"],"source_url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2026-08-25/title-22.xml","current_through":"2026-08-25","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T02:24:49Z","sha256":"470836d494e0e677298744df7484d8082cb9ec593a86ad64d11e359697ec57bc","source_id":"us-cfr","stale":true,"prev":"us/22-cfr-120.2","next":"us/22-cfr-120.4"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}