EU Council Regulation (EU) 2022/355 — Belarus import/export ban (wood, potash, tobacco, cement, iron/steel, rubber, mineral products)

Mechanism

Regulation 2022/355 amends the 2006 Belarus sanctions regulation by inserting new import and export prohibitions:

• Import ban on wood (Annex X), cement (Annex XI), iron/steel (Annex XII)

and rubber (Annex XIII) products originating in or exported from Belarus, plus purchase, transport, and related financing/insurance/technical assistance.

• Extended restrictions on potassium chloride ("potash"), tobacco and

mineral products already under earlier Belarus sanctions rounds.

• Export ban on dual-use goods/technology (per Regulation (EU) 2021/821),

machinery (Annex XIV), and any goods/technology that could contribute to Belarus's military, security or defence development.

Pre-existing contracts concluded before 2 March 2022 could still be executed until 4 June 2022.

Downstream implications

• Belarus's wood/timber export revenue to the EU is cut off, pushing volumes

toward non-EU buyers (notably China and Central Asia) at a discount.

• Belaruskali and downstream potash buyers face a widened EU restriction

layered on top of earlier 2021 sanctions rounds.

Open questions

• No trade-value or volume figure is disclosed in the regulation itself;

scale is qualitative (product-category ban, not a quota or tariff).