Military classification - Defence material
Determines whether a good is subject to the defence material and assimilated regime (ML/AMA). Precedence cascade, EU Common Military List, DGA 2022 and 2025 guides.
The Trade Hub's military classification tool determines whether a good, technology or software falls under the defence material and assimilated regime (ML/AMA), pursuant to the European Union's Common Military List and the French defence material list. It draws on the entirety of the Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA) classification guides for 2022 and 2025, on official notes and definitions, and on the relevant case law.
This tool is a classification aid. It does not replace the legal analysis of an expert nor the exporter's responsibility under the regulation. In case of doubt, consult the relevant authorities (French Ministry of the Armed Forces, customs) or a specialized lawyer. Control of defence material is subject to secrecy and engages the criminal liability of the exporter.
Purpose of the classification
The question the tool answers is generic: is this good intended for military use within the meaning of the control list? The reasoning makes no assumption about the nature of the product. A gas mask, a vehicle, an electronic component or a piece of software are all handled by the same method, grounded in the criteria of the list entries and not in hard-coded rules.
Military classification is the entry point of the export control precedence cascade: first you check whether the good is defence material (ML/AMA); failing that, the analysis continues toward dual-use and the other regimes.
Precedence cascade
| Level | Regime | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ML / AMA | Defence material and assimilated - EU Common Military List, French list |
| 2 | BDU | Dual-use goods - Annex I EU 2021/821 (delegated to the export control engine) |
| 3 | National measures | National measures and embargoes |
| 4 | Catch-all | Military or proliferation end-use (art. 4) |
| 5 | Cyber-surveillance | Cyber-surveillance goods (art. 5) |
| 6 | Anti-torture | Goods that could be used for torture |
| 7 | NON_CLASSE | Falls under no control regime |
NON_CLASSE does not mean "non-military". It means the good falls under no control regime (neither defence material, nor dual-use, nor national measure). A non-military good may remain controlled under the dual-use regime: in that case the regime returned is BDU, not NON_CLASSE.
Knowledge base
| Source | Volume | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Military control list | 481 entries | 23 categories, hierarchical structure (category - sub-entry - paragraph) |
| Official notes | 133 | Category notes, exclusions, scope definitions |
| Definitions | 39 | Binding defined terms ("specially designed", "component", etc.) |
| DGA guides | 2022 + 2025 | Complete classification method (text, annexes) |
| Case law | Integrated | Decisions relevant to the interpretation of entries |
Each entry is enriched with a decision_spec: the structured breakdown of conditions (AND/OR/exhaustive logic), the defined terms invoked and the cross-references. It is this specification, faithful to the official text, that guides the reasoning - no rule is hard-coded.
The 22 categories of the Common Military List
| Category | Domain |
|---|---|
| ML1 | Smooth-bore weapons with a calibre of less than 20 mm, other arms and automatic weapons |
| ML2 | Smooth-bore weapons with a calibre of 20 mm or more, other armament |
| ML3 | Ammunition and fuze setting devices |
| ML4 | Bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, other explosive devices |
| ML5 | Fire control, surveillance and warning equipment |
| ML6 | Ground vehicles and their components |
| ML7 | Chemical and biological agents, riot control agents, radioactive materials |
| ML8 | Energetic materials and related substances |
| ML9 | Warships, special naval equipment and their components |
| ML10 | Aircraft, lighter-than-air vehicles, drones, engines |
| ML11 | Electronic and counter-measure equipment |
| ML12 | High-velocity kinetic energy weapon systems |
| ML13 | Armoured or protective equipment and constructions |
| ML14 | Specialized equipment for military training, simulators |
| ML15 | Imaging and counter-measure equipment |
| ML16 | Forgings, castings and unfinished products |
| ML17 | Miscellaneous equipment, materials and libraries |
| ML18 | Equipment for the production of products on the list |
| ML19 | Directed energy weapon systems |
| ML20 | Cryogenic and superconductive equipment |
| ML21 | Software |
| ML22 | Technology |
Classification method
The tool faithfully applies the method of the DGA guides.
1. The "specially designed for military use" test
Central criterion: was the good specially designed for military use? The analysis draws on positive indicators (design, characteristics, intended purpose) and the negative tests provided by EU law (existence of a civilian equivalent, absence of a specific military function).
2. Grammatical reading of entries
The conditions of an entry are read strictly: "all of the following" imposes an AND, "any of the following" imposes an OR, "as follows" introduces an exhaustive list. The tool respects this grammar to the letter.
3. Hierarchical inheritance
A terminal paragraph applies only if the good satisfies all the conditions of the higher levels (category, sub-entry). The tool walks up the chain of ancestry to verify consistency.
4. Exclusions and contamination
Category exclusion notes are checked systematically. Contamination and absorption phenomena (a military component integrated into a civilian assembly, and vice versa) are assessed.
Agentic operation
The classification relies on a Reflexion-style reasoning loop, aligned with the level of rigour of the guides:
- Actor: a reasoning model queries the base (hybrid dense + sparse retrieval, reranking), retrieves candidate entries, checks exclusions and proposes a classification drawn from the pool of existing entries only (no phantom entries).
- Adversarial evaluator: a second model, a critical inspector, attempts to rebut the proposal (verdict confirm / rebut / clarify), relying on the retrieved doctrine and case law.
- Self-consistency: several independent samples vote to stabilize the result.
- Clarification questions: asked only when a dispositive fact is missing to decide.
Results
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Regime | ML, AMA, BDU, MESURES_NATIONALES, CATCH_ALL, CYBERSURVEILLANCE, ANTI_TORTURE or NON_CLASSE |
| Entry | Reference of the applicable entry (e.g. ML1.a) and its title |
| Criteria assessed | Conditions of the entry checked one by one |
| "Specially designed" verdict | Conclusion of the military use test |
| Exclusions checked | Exclusion notes examined |
| Thresholds compared | Technical parameters set against any thresholds |
| Citations | Sourced excerpts (entry, note, guide, definition, case law) |
| Agreements retained | Regimes and agreements invoked |
| License implications | Consequences in terms of authorization |
| BRSI escalation | Indicates whether a human review is recommended |
| Justification | Detailed firm-grade reasoning |
Interactive mode
The tool operates in asynchronous conversational mode. The user describes the good, a job is created, then the interface polls the result. The tool asks clarification questions if a decisive fact is missing, then produces the full classification. The photo mode lets you attach an image of the good.
Each classification is saved in a session that can be consulted later and bookmarked. The /usage and /history pages provide consumption tracking and the archive of classifications.
Clarification questions do not consume quota. Only the final classification is counted.
Access
Military classification is reserved for members of an organization (professional access). Billing follows the pay-per-use model with graduated pricing, on the military scope. The API (async chat, jobs, batch) is documented in the developer reference.
Who this tool is for
| Profile | Use case |
|---|---|
| Compliance officers | Systematic screening of goods before export |
| Exporters | Verification of a product's "defence material" status |
| Freight forwarders | Identification of goods requiring a license |
| Specialized lawyers | Regulatory analysis and compliance documentation |
| Defence manufacturers | Qualification of components and sub-assemblies |
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