BIS EAR amendment: Sudan removed from State Sponsor of Terrorism (SSOT) country group

Mechanism

Sudan was designated a State Sponsor of Terrorism by the U.S. Secretary of State in 1993, placing it in EAR Country Group E:1 — the most restricted tier, alongside Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Syria. E:1 classification carries several overlapping export-control consequences:

• No license exceptions: Nearly all EAR license exceptions are unavailable

for E:1 destinations, forcing exporters to apply for individual validated licences on items that would otherwise ship under an exception.

• Policy of denial: BIS reviews licence applications for E:1 countries

with a presumption of denial for most dual-use items.

• Anti-terrorism (AT) column controls: Items controlled only for AT reasons

require a license for E:1 destinations regardless of classification.

The Secretary of State formally rescinded Sudan's SSOT designation effective December 14, 2020, as part of the broader U.S.–Sudan normalisation package that also included Sudan's removal from the terrorism list for liability purposes under U.S. law. This BIS final rule, published January 19, 2021 (effective immediately upon publication), implements that State Department decision by removing Sudan from Country Group E:1 in Supplement No. 1 to EAR Part 740.

What changes:

• Sudan exits Country Group E:1 entirely.
• Exporters and re-exporters may now invoke applicable EAR license exceptions

(e.g. ENC, TSR, LVS, GOV) for eligible items destined for Sudan.

• AT-column-only-controlled items no longer require a license for Sudan.
• BIS licensing review policy for Sudan shifts from denial to case-by-case

analysis.

What does NOT change:

• Sudan retains Country Group D:5 (arms-embargoed) status; military and

defence-article exports remain tightly controlled.

• Any items on the Munitions List (USML) remain subject to State Department

ITAR jurisdiction.

• UN arms embargo on Darfur (UNSCR 1556/2004) is unaffected.
• OFAC's Darfur Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 546) continue to restrict

transactions involving designated persons.

Context

Sudan's removal from the SSOT list was the centrepiece of the September 2020 Abraham Accords normalisation framework, which linked Sudan's recognition of Israel to the State Department rescission and removal from the terrorism- liability list. The BIS EAR update is one of several parallel U.S. agency actions implementing the same decision: OFAC separately amended the Terrorism List Governments Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 596) in May 2021 (see 2021-05-20-us-ofac-terrorism-list-sudan-sst-rescission).

Downstream implications

• Dual-use technology exporters (agricultural equipment, civilian aviation

parts, telecommunications hardware) gain meaningful relief from licence exception exclusions that had imposed compliance friction.

• Sudan's residual D:5 designation preserves the arms-trade firewall; the

practical effect of E:1 removal is concentrated in commercial and civilian-purpose dual-use goods.

• The rule reduces the cost of humanitarian and development-sector supply

chains into Sudan, consistent with U.S. policy objectives of supporting Sudan's democratic transition following the 2019 removal of al-Bashir.

Open questions

• Whether BIS will further reclassify Sudan's Country Group D membership

(D:1 national-security controls still apply) as the bilateral relationship matures.

• Long-run durability given Sudan's political instability post-2021 coup and

the 2023 SAF–RSF civil war.