Some fundamental research projects may involve dealing with an outside contractor or vendor that possesses information or technology relevant to the project. This third party information will be proprietary and might have nondisclosure restrictions in place in order to protect it.
Unlike university-generated information or technology, which is normally in the public domain and exempt from export controls, a vendor's protected data or material will be subject to controls.
Non-Disclosure Agreements and Confidentiality Agreements are permissible as long as they are outside the research program and do not affect the intellectually significant portions of that research. The disclosure restriction must not affect the ability to publish the research results.
Such agreements do not affect your ability to invoke the fundamental research exclusion, because the restriction is not on the university-generated information but is placed on information or technology belonging to the third party.
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