Maintaining Goods Lists and Classifying Products

If you want to use the legal control for exports, you have to classify all products affected by the control measures in accordance with the corresponding list or lists of goods. On the one hand, this classification is a prerequisite for a product-related document check; on the other hand, it is required for the administration of export licenses in the SAP GTS system.

Both the list of dual-use items in Annex I of the Dual-Use Regulation and the Commerce Control List (CCL) in Supplement No. 1 to §774.1 of the EAR consist of subgroups that are classified with alphanumerical character combinations. Thus, codes 3A to 3E stand for "general electronics", and 4A to 4E for "computers", for example. The first digit indicates the category and the second digit indicates the class of the listed items.

This coding is specified in the Wassenaar Arrangement. The first two digits of the items are therefore identical in all states signatory to the Wassenaar Arrangement. The actual items are assigned five-digit keys and are defined in more detail in the national lists of goods. There may therefore be national differences for the last three digits.

To map individual goods lists in SAP GTS, you must first define both a numbering scheme and a numbering scheme content for each list.

You create numbering schemes and numbering scheme contents for legal control in Customizing (menu path: SAP Global Trade Services, edition for SAP HANA → General Settings → Numbering Schemes → Control Classes → Define Numbering Scheme for Control Classes and → Define Numbering Scheme Content for Control Classes).

Goods list numbers are master data that are each assigned to a numbering scheme content. You can purchase complete lists in the form of XML files from various data providers and upload them to your SAP GTS system. However, you can also create list numbers manually.

To upload entire goods lists, use the Upload Control Classes app. You can use the Manage Control Classes app to create individual dual-use items or Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCN) manually instead.

If you upload a complete list to the SAP GTS system from an XML file, it is no longer possible to change the numbers manually, or the actual numbering scheme content. If you create goods list numbers manually, you can change them to a limited extent. You can only delete a number if it is not assigned to any master data or documents.

Before you can assign goods list numbers to the product master records of your dual-use items, you have to link the numbering scheme of the goods list with the legal regulation for legal control. To do so, in Customizing for the SAP GTS system, choose the menu path SAP Global Trade Services, edition for SAP HANA → General Settings → Numbering Schemes → Assign Numbering Schemes to Legal Regulations. In the dialog structure, first open the folder Assign Scheme for ECCNs and add entries for all relevant legal regulations and numbering schemes. Repeat this step in the folder Assign Scheme for Numbers in Legal Control.

You manage the classification of your products at the level of the legal regulation for legal control. For each of these legal regulations, you must decide whether each product is to be relevant for export control or whether the system is to assume the opposite (menu path: SAP Global Trade Services, edition for SAP HANA → Compliance Management → Legal Controls → Control Settings for Legal Control).

Two indicators are available for the field Maintain Product Master:

• Every Product is Relevant for Checks

• Only Specifically Selected Products Are Relevant for Checks

If the first indicator is selected, SAP GTS suspects each product to be a dual-use item. If it actually is a dual-use item, knowledgeable users must classify the product accordingly. Otherwise, the No Control indicator must be set. If a product is not processed at all after it has been created in SAP GTS, the system blocks all document items that contain this product as a precautionary measure.

The use of control groupings and peculiarity codes to classify products for legal control is optional. You can freely define keys and descriptions in the Manage Control Groups for Products and the Manage Peculiarity Codes app respectively. Control groupings are primarily used to group products for the purpose of license determination. You can also use peculiarity codes in license determination.