0A504 Category 0A
Optical sighting devices for firearms (including shotguns controlled by 0A502); and “components” as follows (see List of Items Controlled).
Category 0: Nuclear Materials, Facilities, and Equipment, Firearms, Ammunition [and Miscellaneous Items]
Reasons for control
- FC: Firearms convention
- RS: Regional stability
- CC: Crime control
- UN
Country chart
| Control | Column |
|---|---|
| CC applies to entire entry | CC 1 |
| FC applies to paragraphs .a, .b, .c, .d, .e, .g, and .i of this entry | FC 1 |
| RS applies to paragraph .i | RS 1 |
| UN applies to entire entry | None |
List-based license exceptions
Items
- a. Telescopic sights.
- b. Holographic sights.
- c. Reflex or “red dot” sights.
- d. Reticle sights.
- e. Other sighting devices that contain optical elements.
- f. Laser aiming devices or laser illuminators “specially designed” for use on firearms, and having an operational wavelength exceeding 400 nm but not exceeding 710 nm.
- g. Lenses, other optical elements and adjustment mechanisms for articles in paragraphs .a, .b, .c, .d, .e, or .i.
- h. [Reserved]
- i. Riflescopes that were not “subject to the EAR” as of March 8, 2020 and are “specially designed” for use in firearms that are “subject to the ITAR.”
Related controls
(1) See USML Category XII(c) for sighting devices using second generation image intensifier tubes having luminous sensitivity greater than 350 µA/lm, or third generation or higher image intensifier tubes, that are “subject to the ITAR.” (2) See USML Category XII(b) for laser aiming or laser illumination systems “subject to the ITAR.” (3) Section 744.9 of the EAR imposes a license requirement on certain commodities described in 0A504 if being exported, reexported, or transferred (in-country) for use by a military end user or for incorporation into an item controlled by ECCN 0A919.
Notes
Note 1 to 0A504.f: 0A504.f does not control laser boresighting devices that must be placed in the bore or chamber to provide a reference for aligning the firearms sights.
Note 2 to paragraph i: For purpose of the application of “specially designed” for the riflescopes controlled under 0A504.i, paragraph (a)(1) of the definition of “specially designed” in § 772.1 of the EAR is what is used to determine whether the riflescope is “specially designed.”
Source: eCFR, version
2026-08-01, retrieved
2026-08-20T04:04:59+00:00.