Addition of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland to EAR Russia/Belarus Partner-Country Exclusion List

Mechanism

When BIS established the Russia/Belarus Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rule in February–March 2022 (87 Fed. Reg. 12226 and subsequent rulemakings), it created broad license requirements for foreign- produced items destined for Russia or Belarus where those items incorporate US-origin technology, software, or equipment. Allies who adopted equivalent controls were carved out via a "partner- country exclusion" list: entities producing or re-exporting items from an excluded country face lower licensing burdens when those items use US-origin inputs.

This April 12, 2022 rule adds four more countries to that exclusion list: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. All four had by early April aligned their respective export-control frameworks with the multilateral Russia/Belarus restrictive measures coordinated through the US, EU, and other G7 partners. Switzerland's inclusion is notable given its traditional neutrality; the Swiss Federal Council adopted the EU's Russia sanctions packages in a series of steps from March 2022 onward.

The practical effect: companies in IS, LI, NO, and CH producing foreign items using US-origin manufacturing equipment are relieved from filing US license applications for goods that do not move to Russia or Belarus through normal trade but only incidentally fall within the FDP rule's reach. The rule is retroactively effective April 8, 2022.

Downstream implications

• Reinforces the multilateral export-control coalition's reach by formally recognizing allied

equivalence — a pattern repeated through 2022 as more countries aligned with BIS Russia/Belarus controls.

• Switzerland's inclusion was politically significant: it signalled a departure from neutrality in

the trade-control domain and laid groundwork for subsequent Swiss sanctions alignment with EU packages.

• Iceland and Norway (EEA members) and Liechtenstein (EEA/EFTA) had EEA obligations creating

strong incentives to harmonise; their addition largely confirmed de-facto alignment.

• Slight decrease in license application volume anticipated by BIS — a net administrative benefit

for both US regulators and allied-country exporters.

Open questions

• Whether additional countries were subsequently added to the partner-country exclusion list, and

how the list evolved through 2023–2024 as countries diverged on sanctions posture.

• Long-run compliance burden for the excluded countries, given Russia's attempts to route

controlled items via third-country intermediaries.