Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation approved up to USD 18.3 million in EDGE (Economic Development for a Growing Economy) payroll-based tax credits for Amazon Data Services Inc., tied to Amazon Web Services' USD 11 billion data center campus at the Indiana Enterprise Center in New Carlisle, St. Joseph County. The credit was one component of a larger state incentive package announced by Governor Eric Holcomb on 2024-04-25, which also included up to USD 55 million in Hoosier Business Investment tax credits, up to USD 20 million in redevelopment tax credits, up to USD 5 million in training grants, a USD 7 million road-infrastructure contribution, and a 50-year state sales-tax exemption on data center equipment. IEDC records cite an incentive-agreement effective date of 2023-09-01. The project committed to creating at least 1,000 new jobs.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation approved up to USD 55 million in Hoosier Business Investment (HBI) tax credits for Amazon Data Services Inc., tied to Amazon Web Services' USD 11 billion data center campus at the Indiana Enterprise Center in New Carlisle, St. Joseph County. This is the largest single instrument in the five-part state incentive package Governor Eric Holcomb announced on 2024-04-25, which also included up to USD 18.3 million in EDGE payroll tax credits, up to USD 20 million in redevelopment tax credits, up to USD 5 million in training grants, a USD 7 million road-infrastructure contribution, and a 50-year state sales-tax exemption on data center equipment. IEDC describes all incentives as performance-based, claimable only once the underlying investment and job-creation commitments are verified. IEDC records cite an incentive-agreement effective date of 2023-09-01.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation approved up to USD 20 million in redevelopment tax credits for Amazon Data Services Inc., tied to Amazon Web Services' USD 11 billion data center campus at the Indiana Enterprise Center in New Carlisle, St. Joseph County. This is the third of five distinct incentive instruments in the state package Governor Eric Holcomb announced on 2024-04-25, alongside up to USD 18.3 million in EDGE payroll tax credits, up to USD 55 million in Hoosier Business Investment tax credits, up to USD 5 million in training grants, a USD 7 million road-infrastructure contribution, and a 50-year state sales-tax exemption on data center equipment. IEDC records cite an incentive-agreement effective date of 2023-09-01.

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), enacted as Division H of P.L. 118-50 (21st Century Peace through Strength Act), prohibits app stores and internet hosting services from distributing, maintaining, or updating "foreign adversary controlled applications" — defined explicitly to include ByteDance Ltd and its subsidiaries (TikTok). ByteDance was given 270 days from enactment (until January 19, 2025) to execute a "qualified divestiture" — selling TikTok to an owner with no operational relationship with a foreign adversary — or face a nationwide distribution ban. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law's constitutionality in TikTok, Inc. v. Garland (January 17, 2025), rejecting First Amendment challenges and affirming the national-security rationale grounded in data-collection concerns.

Mongolia's State Great Khural adopted the Sovereign Wealth Fund Law and accompanying Minerals Law amendments on 19 April 2024 (effective 10 May 2024). The package caps any private holder plus affiliates at ≤34% of issued shares of a company holding a strategic-deposit licence, and requires transfer of a state share (up to 34%) for designated strategic deposits. Up to 16 deposits are potentially affected. A February 2025 cabinet decision rebranded the SOE "Mongolrostsvetmet" as "Erdenes Critical Minerals" with an expanded rare-earth mandate, consolidating critical-minerals exploration and processing under Erdenes Mongol LLC.

The US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued an interim final rule (IFR) amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to remove list-based license requirements — including National Security Column 1 (NS1), Regional Stability Column 1 (RS1) and Missile Technology Column 1 (MT1) reasons-for-control — for exports, reexports and in-country transfers to or within Australia and the United Kingdom. The IFR also expands the availability of license exceptions and reduces the scope of end-use and end-user-based license requirements for the two AUKUS partners, while leaving firearms-related items (Crime Control / CC) and a narrow set of other ECCNs untouched. The rule is the EAR-side companion to a parallel DDTC proposed rule creating an ITAR §126.7 exemption for defense articles and services traded among authorised AU/UK/US users, and is the foundational regulatory implementation of the AUKUS Pillar 2 advanced-capability cooperation track.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a final rule (FR Doc 2024-08622; Docket 240417-0112; 89 FR 30119) amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to expand the product scope of two Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rules — the Iran FDP rule and the Russia/Belarus/Temporarily occupied Crimea region of Ukraine FDP rule in 15 CFR 734.9(f) — to cover the entirety of the Common High Priority List (CHPL), an HTS-6 list developed jointly with the EU, Japan and the UK that identifies items used in Russian weapons production. The CHPL scope adds basic commercial-grade microelectronics (integrated circuits, RF transceiver modules), test/manufacturing equipment for electronic components, and CNC machine tools to the perimeter, requiring a BIS licence when these foreign-produced items are exported, reexported or transferred to Iran, Russia, Belarus or occupied Crimea. The rule was issued in response to Iran's 13 April 2024 attack on Israel and Iran's ongoing military support for the Russian war in Ukraine; it became effective 18 April 2024 (Federal Register publication 22 April 2024) with a transit grace period for in-flight shipments until 20 May 2024.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published in the Federal Register "Directive 1 under Executive Order 14014, 'Prohibitions Related to Financial Services to or for the Benefit of Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise.'" The Directive — originally issued on OFAC's website on 2023-10-31 with a 2023-12-15 effective date — determines that MOGE is a political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of the Government of Burma and prohibits U.S. persons from providing, exporting, or reexporting, directly or indirectly, financial services to or for the benefit of MOGE. The Federal Register publication codifies notice of the Directive in the formal record of agency action; the underlying prohibition has been operative since December 2023.

Moldova's Cabinet of Ministers approved Government Decision HG 280/2024 on 17 April 2024, adopting the National Industrial Development Programme 2024-2028 (Programul Național de Dezvoltare Industrială pentru 2024-2028). The programme sets a manufacturing GDP-share target from 8.2% (2023 baseline) to 11.5% by 2028 and at least 25% industrial-production volume growth, with priority given to six sectors: electronics, chemical-pharmaceutical, auto-components, textiles, construction materials, and food industry. It operationalises Moldova's EU-candidacy industrial-alignment commitments under the EU Reform and Growth Facility (€1.9bn 2024-2027 envelope) and the national development strategy European Moldova 2030. A Regional State Aid Scheme for Investments — launched January 2025 under HG 280/2024 — provides grants covering up to 60% (large/medium enterprises) or 75% (small enterprises) of qualifying investments above a MDL 10 million threshold, combined with a 75% income-tax exemption, targeting approximately 150 enterprises with ~€100 million in total state aid through 2034.

OFAC issued two determinations under Executive Orders 14068 and 14071 banning the import into the United States of Russian-origin aluminum, copper, and nickel produced on or after April 13, 2024, and separately prohibiting the provision of warranting/deliverable services for these metals on global exchanges (LME, CME) and their use to settle over-the-counter derivative contracts. Metal produced before the effective date is grandfathered. The action was coordinated with the United Kingdom, which imposed parallel exchange-listing prohibitions the same day, following G7 statements on reducing Russia's metals revenue.

The US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) final rule (89 FR 25503; FR Doc 2024-07760) added 11 entries to the Entity List under China (6), Russia (3), and the United Arab Emirates (2), effective 2024-04-11. The primary rationale for the Russia and UAE tranches — and at least one China entity (Shenzhen Jiasibo Technology) — is procurement of US-controlled dual-use aerospace and UAV components for Iran's Shahed- series UAV programme via the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA); those drones have been used against oil tankers in the Middle East and deployed by Russia in Ukraine. The remaining five China entities were designated for acquiring US-origin items to support China's military modernisation. The rule also adds one alias to the existing entry for Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. This action was the first Entity List final rule published after BIS implemented the 50 Percent Rule for controlling foreign subsidiaries of listed entities.

The EU Critical Raw Materials Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1252) entered into force on 23 May 2024 after publication in the EU Official Journal on 3 May 2024. The Act sets binding 2030 benchmarks for the Union: ≥10% of annual consumption from domestic extraction, ≥40% from domestic processing, ≥25% from domestic recycling, and a strict ≤65% concentration limit from any single third country for each strategic raw material. It establishes a list of 17 strategic raw materials and 34 critical raw materials, creates a "Strategic Project" fast-track permitting regime (≤27 months for extraction, ≤15 months for recycling), and mandates joint purchasing and supply-risk stress tests for large EU manufacturers.

Loi n° 2024-449 of 21 May 2024, known as the SREN law (Sécuriser et Réguler l'Espace Numérique), was definitively adopted by the French Parliament on 10 April 2024, validated in part by the Conseil Constitutionnel on 17 May 2024 (Decision n° 2024-866 DC), promulgated by the President on 21 May 2024, and published in the Journal Officiel on 22 May 2024. SREN is France's digital-sovereignty omnibus statute: it transposes parts of the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation 2022/2065), Digital Markets Act (Regulation 2022/1925), and Data Governance Act (Regulation 2022/868) into French law and layers national-level instruments on top — most consequentially a data-localisation hook for sensitive public-sector data tied to the ANSSI SecNumCloud sovereign-cloud certification scheme, an ARCOM-enforced age-verification regime for adult-content sites (with €250k or 2%-of-turnover fines and account-closure powers), an "anti-scam" cybersecurity filter requiring browsers and DNS resolvers to block ANSSI-designated fraudulent domains, a jeux-en-ligne (JONUM) regime for cryptoasset-adjacent gaming, and a coordination framework between CSA, CNIL, ARCOM, and the Autorité de la concurrence. SREN is one of the first EU member-state digital omnibus statutes anchoring national public-sector data-hosting rules to a sovereign-cloud certification scheme.

On 9 April 2024, Türkiye's Ministry of Trade restricted exports of 1,019 tariff lines across 54 product groups to Israel — including cement, marble, sulphur, aluminium wire, ceramics, varnishes and mineral fertilisers — in response to Israel's conduct of the Gaza war and its refusal of a Turkish request to participate in aid airdrops. The government stated the restriction would remain in force until Israel declared an immediate ceasefire and allowed unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza. The measure was superseded three weeks later, on 2 May 2024, when the Ministry halted all exports, imports and transit trade with Israel across every product category.

The Defence Trade Controls Amendment Act 2024 (C2024A00021) received Royal Assent on 8 April 2024 and created three new criminal offences in the Defence Trade Controls Act 2012: section 10A (supply of Defence and Strategic Goods List technology in Australia to a non-exempt foreign person); section 10B (secondary supply of DSGL Part 1 Munitions or Part 2 Dual-Use Sensitive/Very Sensitive goods or technology outside Australia when originally exported from Australia); and section 10C (provision of DSGL Part 1 services to foreign nationals outside Australia). All three offences carry maximum penalties of 10 years imprisonment or 2,500 penalty units (~A$782,500), or both. The offence framework commenced 1 September 2024 with a six-month compliance-transition period; criminal liability attached from 1 March 2025. The Act also codifies AUKUS-partnership exemptions, carving out supplies to and from citizens and permanent residents of the United Kingdom and United States, underpinning the licence-free trilateral technology-transfer environment sought under AUKUS Pillar 2.

The European Commission approved on 8 April 2024 a €267 million Slovak State aid measure (SA.103740) under Article 107(3)(a) TFEU and the 2022 Regional Aid Guidelines to support Volvo Cars Slovakia s.r.o.'s construction of a new battery-electric-vehicle manufacturing plant in the Valaliky Strategic Industrial Park near Košice in eastern Slovakia. The facility is designed for up to 250,000 BEVs per year against a total private investment of approximately €1.2 billion, creating around 3,300 direct jobs in one of Slovakia's least-developed NUTS-2 regions. The aid takes the form of a direct cash grant and marks the single largest project-level EU state-aid notification by Slovakia in over a decade, anchoring the country's pivot from ICE-vehicle sub-assembly toward full BEV manufacturing.

On 5 April 2024 Japan's Cabinet adopted an amendment to the Export Trade Control Order, following a 1 March 2024 Cabinet understanding, extending the export prohibition on goods that strengthen Russia's industrial base. The additional goods span parts of HS chapters 27 (mineral fuels and oils), 28 (inorganic chemicals), 39, 73, 81 (tungsten powder, molybdenum, cobalt, zirconium, rhenium), 82, 84, 85 (including lithium-ion and nickel-metal-hydride batteries), 89 and 90, with the specific goods fixed by ministerial ordinance and notices issued on 10 April. The export ban applies from 17 April 2024. A separate METI notice bans imports of non-industrial diamonds of Russian origin from 10 May 2024, regardless of port of shipment.

On April 4, 2024, the Bureau of Industry and Security published an interim final rule (89 FR 23876) providing corrections, clarifications, and targeted revisions to the October 2023 advanced-computing and semiconductor manufacturing equipment rules. The most substantive change splits the former License Exception NAC (Notified Advanced Computing) into two separate exceptions: NAC (retaining the 25-day prior notification requirement) and a new ACA (Advanced Computing Authorized) exception that permits certain shipments without advance notification. The rule also adds ECCN 4A090.b covering computers and assemblies containing advanced ICs, restores national-security controls to several ECCNs, and addresses various technical drafting errors from the October 2023 rules.

On 3 April 2024 the European Commission opened two simultaneous FSR Phase II in-depth investigations — the second and third ever under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (Regulation 2022/2560) — concerning a Romanian public-procurement procedure for the design, construction and operation of a 454.97 MW EU-co-funded photovoltaic park (Rovinari Est). The first investigation targeted the ENEVO Group consortium including LONGi Solar Technologie GmbH (German subsidiary wholly owned by HK-listed LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd.); the second targeted Shanghai Electric UK Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Electric Hong Kong International Engineering Co., Ltd. (Chinese SOE). Both respondents withdrew from the procurement procedure after the Commission's opening; the Commission subsequently closed both investigations. This was the first FSR Phase II enforcement action in the renewable-energy / solar-PV sector and the first targeting a private Chinese-listed company's EU subsidiary.

On 28 March 2024 the Cabinet Office Committee on National Space Policy adopted Japan's Space Technology Strategy, the country's first national space-industrial roadmap establishing priority technology areas (space transportation, satellites, space science and exploration, shared technologies) and the operating framework for the ¥1 trillion (≈USD 6.4 billion) ten-year Space Strategy Fund jointly managed by JAXA on behalf of METI, MEXT and the Cabinet Office. The Strategy sets headline targets of doubling Japan's space-industry market to ¥8 trillion by the early 2030s and reaching ≈30 launches per year. A METI/MEXT/CAO Basic Policy of 26 April 2024 operationalised the Fund's grant architecture, and JAXA opened the first calls in July 2024. The Strategy is the parent authority for subsequent JAXA Space Strategy Fund grant programmes and is Japan's structural counterpart to the EU Space Act (2025) and US National Space Policy.

The Dutch Council of Ministers on 28 March 2024 approved Project Beethoven, a EUR 2.51 billion public-investment package for the Brainport-Eindhoven semiconductor ecosystem. The package combines EUR 1.28 billion from the Nationaal Groeifonds, EUR 450 million in additional central- government education/talent spending, and EUR 780 million in regional co-funding from the Province of Noord-Brabant and the Municipality of Eindhoven. Investment pillars cover infrastructure (mobility, road capacity on A2/A58/A67, energy-grid reinforcement), a national semiconductor-talent plan targeting 2,000 master's-programme graduates per year by 2030, 16,000+ new housing units in the Brainport region, and quality-of-life improvements. The Government stated it expects these measures to lead ASML to continue to invest and maintain its statutory and tax domicile in the Netherlands.

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) initiated an anti-dumping investigation on 28 March 2024 concerning imports of Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂, pigment grade; HS 3206.11/3206.19) originating in or exported from China PR (file 14/51/2002-DGAD), on application of Indian domestic producers Travancore Titanium Products Ltd, Kerala Minerals & Metals Ltd (KMML), Meghmani Organochem Ltd, and VV Titanium Pigments Pvt Ltd. Final Findings were issued on 12 February 2025 recommending anti-dumping duties on Chinese TiO₂ imports; those findings were subsequently remanded by court order in October 2025, reopening the determination phase. DGTR issued a second Disclosure Statement on 12 May 2026 and extended the remand timeline on 18 May 2026, with revised Final Findings expected in Q3 2026. The investigation sits within a global TiO₂ anti-dumping cluster targeting Chinese producers alongside parallel EU provisional measures (2024) and USITC AD-CVD proceedings.

The Aizsardzības industrijas likums (Defence Industry Law), adopted by the Saeima on 27 March 2024 and published in Latvijas Vēstnesis No. 70 on 10 April 2024, is Latvia's first standalone statute codifying state-support instruments for domestically registered defence-industrial-base firms. The law establishes a strategic-partnership agreement framework between the Ministry of Defence and Latvian-registered defence-tech manufacturers (including the Latvian drone-tech cluster — Atlas Aerospace, UAV Factory, Edge Autonomy Latvia), defines continuity-of-operations and supply-security obligations for strategic-partner firms, and provides a procurement-preference channel for Latvian-registered defence suppliers in MoD and State Defence Logistics and Procurement Centre contracting. The law also streamlines export-licence processing for qualified Latvian strategic- goods exporters and aligns state-support measures with EU Treaty Article 346 defence-exemption and EU European Defence Fund / EDIRPA co-financing rules.

Latvia's Saeima adopted on 27 March 2024 amendments to the National Security Law (Nacionālās drošības likums), entering into force on 24 April 2024, that widen the perimeter of foreign-investment and ownership transactions subject to Cabinet of Ministers pre-clearance over "companies of significance to national security." The amendments expand the universe of regulated subjects beyond registered companies to include foundations and associations, tighten the rules on beneficial-ownership disclosure, and bring additional sensitive activities — energy security including LNG-terminal acquisitions, electronic communications, cybersecurity, and critical-raw-materials processing — under the regime, while clarifying Cabinet authority to impose conditions or unwind transactions retroactively. The law functions as Latvia's horizontal FDI-screening instrument under the EU-wide cooperation framework of Regulation 2019/452.

Portugal's Council of Ministers adopted Resolution n.º 49/2024 on 26 March 2024, establishing the Sistema de Incentivos ao Investimento em Setores Estratégicos (Strategic Sectors Investment Incentive System) — a dedicated state-aid window anchored to the EU Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF, Commission Communication C(2023)1711) and routed through Portugal's Regime Contratual de Investimento (RCI, Decree-Law 191/2014). The scheme covers green-transition equipment manufacturing (batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, electrolysers, CCUS) and upstream critical raw materials (lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, copper, rare earths, graphite, anode/cathode precursor chemistries), offering cumulative grant equivalents up to 35% of eligible investment for large enterprises and 45–55% for SMEs, Cohesion-Region operations, or strategic-priority categories. A hard 31 December 2025 approval-decision sunset tied to TCTF expiry drove a Q3–Q4 2025 project-decision rush. The scheme served as the primary domestic state-aid instrument underpinning Portugal's four EU CRMA-designated strategic projects (Savannah Barroso lithium, Lusorecursos Aguas Frias lithium, Lifthium Estarreja LiCO3/LiOH refinery, Bondalti Estarreja lithium-derivatives integration).

Bill C-34, the National Security Review of Investments Modernization Act, received Royal Assent on 22 March 2024 — the first major overhaul of the Investment Canada Act (ICA) national-security review regime since 2009. Non-regulatory provisions came into force on 3 September 2024 by Order Fixing P.C. 2024-826 (SI/TR-32, Canada Gazette Part II). The Act creates a pre-implementation filing obligation for investments in prescribed "sensitive sectors" (final list set by regulation), gives the Minister of Innovation new authority to extend reviews and impose interim conditions or accept undertakings without a Governor-in-Council order, raises monetary penalties, and establishes information-sharing authorities with allied screening regimes. ISED's updated NSR Guidelines (5 March 2025) elevate "economic security" to a standalone factor and align the prescribed-sector list with the Sensitive Technology List (STL).

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued the Provisions on Promoting and Regulating Cross-Border Data Flows (《促进和规范数据跨境流动规定》) on 22 March 2024, effective immediately. The rules substantially raise the thresholds at which CAC security assessment, Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC), or Personal Information Protection Certification are required for outbound data transfers, and create categorical exemptions for contract performance, HR management, intra-group transfers below a volume threshold, and transit data processed in China with no domestic personal information introduced. A Free Trade Zone pilot mechanism allows designated FTZs (Shanghai Lingang, Tianjin, Beijing) to publish their own negative lists defining which data categories still require prior approval, easing conditions for multinationals with operations in those zones.

On 21 March 2024, Costa Rica's Ministerio de Comercio Exterior (COMEX) launched the Hoja de Ruta para el Fortalecimiento del Ecosistema de Semiconductores — the first national semiconductor roadmap published by any Latin American country — jointly presented with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in the context of the CHIPS Act §103 ITSI Fund partnership. President Rodrigo Chaves Robles simultaneously signed an executive decree declaring the semiconductor industry and related industries of "interés público" (public interest) and directing COMEX to lead implementation. The roadmap is organised around four pillars: Talent (Human Talent Training Incentive programme, US$6M initial budget), Incentives (OECD BEPS Pillar Two-aligned fiscal/financial R&D incentives, Free Trade Zone regime strengthening under Law 7210), Investment Attraction (CINDE-led FDI promotion targeting ATP, advanced PCB, and design-house segments), and Regulatory Improvement (customs facilitation, IP reform, export-control alignment). Costa Rica is one of seven declared ITSI-fund partner economies and hosts Intel's largest non-US assembly and test site since 1997, alongside Applied Materials, ON Semiconductor, Coherent, MaxLinear, and Boston Scientific.

On 21 March 2024, President William Ruto formally launched Kenya's Fourth Medium Term Plan 2023-2027 (MTP IV) at State House Nairobi, the final five-year implementation plan under the Kenya Vision 2030 blueprint. MTP IV is the operational vehicle for the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), the Ruto administration's foundational industrial-policy and value-chain framework. The plan organises Kenya's industrial-policy push around five core BETA pillars and nine value chains: agro-processing (incl. edible-oil crops, leather, dairy, tea), textiles and apparel, housing and settlement, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, digital superhighway and creative economy, manufacturing (incl. automotive and EV motorcycle and vehicle assembly), MSME and cooperative sector strengthening, and blue-economy/natural-resource value addition. Implementation is anchored in County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs) across all 47 counties and in the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs). MTP IV is the umbrella framework shaping Kenya's domestic industrial-incentive architecture, foreign-investment priorities, and AfCFTA positioning over 2023-2027. Subsequent sectoral instruments — including the Mining Royalty Collection and Management Regulations 2024 — operate within this policy perimeter. This is the first KE foundational industrial-policy filing in the register.

On 21 March 2024 the PPP Governing Board, acting as the PPP Code IRR Committee, signed the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 11966 — the Public-Private Partnership Code of the Philippines. The IRR was published in a newspaper of general circulation on 22 March 2024 and took effect on 6 April 2024, operationalising the parent law signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on 5 December 2023. The Code replaces the 1990 Build-Operate-Transfer Law (RA 6957, as amended by RA 7718) and the patchwork of agency-by-agency Joint Venture Guidelines as the single unified national framework governing all PPPs across the national government, GOCCs, state universities, and local government units — covering economic, social, and information-technology infrastructure. Key reforms include removing the prior cap on reasonable rate of return for unsolicited proposals, formalising joint-venture as a PPP modality for GOCCs, centralising contract awards under the PPP Center, and materially shortening approval timelines.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule (89 FR 20107) consolidating and expanding EAR end-user controls on persons listed on OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. The rule rewrites EAR § 744.8 to impose a licence requirement covering ALL items subject to the EAR — replacing earlier controls limited to "luxury goods" — whenever an SDN designated under any of 14 specified OFAC sanctions programmes is a party to a transaction. A presumption of denial applies to all licence applications under the revised section, and no licence exception may overcome the restriction.

Venezuela's Asamblea Nacional sanctioned the Organic Law for the Defense of Guayana Esequiba on 21 March 2024; President Maduro promulgated it on 3 April 2024 (Gaceta Oficial Extraordinaria N° 6.798). The 39-article law asserts Venezuelan domestic legal sovereignty over the ~159,500 km² Essequibo region administered by Guyana, creates the legal framework for a new "Estado Guayana Esequiba" federal entity, and empowers the President to invalidate any concession, licence, or operating agreement granted by Guyana over the disputed territory — directly threatening ExxonMobil, Hess, and CNOOC interests in the Stabroek offshore block (~11 bn bbl recoverable reserves) and the broader 2.5+ mb/d Guyanese production ramp scheduled through 2027.

On 20 March 2024 the German Federal Cabinet adopted the Nationale Hafenstrategie, the first comprehensive cross-modal sea-and-inland port strategy succeeding the 2015 Nationales Hafenkonzept. Developed jointly by the federal government, the coastal and inland-port Länder, port industry associations and the ver.di union under BMDV (now BMV) leadership, the strategy is structured around five fields of action and a "living document" measures part containing approximately 140 operative measures. It targets the competitiveness of German sea and inland ports against pressures from the energy transition, Russia's war on Ukraine, post-COVID supply-chain restructuring, Brexit and shifts in world trade.

BIS amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) on 15 March 2024 to apply more restrictive dual-use export, reexport, and in-country transfer controls on Nicaragua. The rule adds Nicaragua to Country Group D:5 (U.S. Arms-Embargoed Countries) and moves it from Country Group B to Country Group D:1 (national security concerns), effective the same day. The action aligns EAR country-group treatment with a concurrent State Department decision under ITAR §126.1, driven by the Nicaraguan government's human rights abuses and its deepening military and security cooperation with Russia.

On 13 March 2024 the State Council issued the Action Plan on Promoting Large-Scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Trade-In as Guo Fa [2024] No. 7, distributed by NDRC alongside ten implementing ministries. Branded the "Two New" (两新) initiative, it is the flagship Xi/Li-era domestic-demand industrial-policy instrument structured around four action lines (equipment renewal, consumer-goods trade-in, recycling and circular utilisation, standards uplift) with twenty specific tasks and 2027 quantitative targets including ≥25% increase in equipment investment vs 2023 across industry, agriculture, construction, transport, education and healthcare. Funded by CNY 150bn of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds in 2024, expanded to CNY 300bn earmarked in 2025, the programme drove >CNY 1.3 trillion of consumer-goods trade-in transactions (autos, appliances, home furnishings, e-bikes) in its first year and is the central pillar of Beijing's response to the property-sector slowdown.

BIS amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to clarify controls on radiation hardened integrated circuits (rad-hard ICs) and equipment — including computer and telecommunications devices — that incorporate them. The rule affirms the availability of License Exception GOV for rad-hard ICs acquired pursuant to an official written request or directive from the Department of Defense or Department of Energy. It also expands License Exception GOV to cover microelectronics exports, reexports, and in-country transfers made under U.S. Government contracts that explicitly provide for such transactions, removing export-control obstacles for official government business. Published at 89 FR 18353–59 (FR Doc 2024-05267), effective on publication date.

Three Commission Delegated Regulations (CDR 2024/1772, 1773, 1774) adopted 13 March 2024 and published in the EU Official Journal on 25 June 2024 constitute the first batch of binding Level 2 implementing rules under DORA (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554). CDR 2024/1772 sets ICT incident classification criteria and materiality thresholds for mandatory reporting; CDR 2024/1773 specifies the required content of contractual policies for ICT third-party services supporting critical or important functions; CDR 2024/1774 defines the ICT risk management tools, methods, processes, and policies — including a simplified framework for smaller in-scope entities. All three apply from 17 January 2025 alongside the parent DORA regulation, covering approximately 22,000 EU regulated financial entities.

OFAC amended and reissued the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 583) in their entirety on 12 March 2024, to implement the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and EO 13818 (20 December 2017) more fully. The reissuance adds expanded interpretive guidance, new definitions (agricultural commodities, medicines, medical devices), new statutory authority (Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020), and several new general licenses covering blocked-account management, legal services, personal-use medical/food transactions, and emergency services. No new SDN designations or country-level targeting; the action is a compliance-architecture update that clarifies permissible conduct and tightens procedural standards across the global human-rights-and-corruption sanctions program.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published in the Federal Register (89 FR 16400, FR Doc 2024-04856) two general licenses issued under the Western Balkans Stabilization Regulations (31 CFR Part 588): GL 2 and GL 3. Both were originally issued on 16 November 2023 concurrent with OFAC's initial round of Republika Srpska / Dodik-network designations; the 7 March 2024 Federal Register notice formalises them per the Administrative Procedure Act notice requirements. GL 2 authorises wind-down transactions with newly blocked WBSR entities through 15 March 2024. GL 3 authorises exports and re-exports of agricultural commodities, medicine, medical devices, replacement parts, and services for medical prevention and treatment to WBSR-blocked persons; GL 3 was subsequently superseded by GL 3A on 18 June 2024.

On 5 March 2024 the European Commission and EU High Representative jointly published the first-ever European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS) via Joint Communication JOIN(2024) 10 final. EDIS sets binding benchmarks for EU member-state procurement: ≥40% of defence equipment acquired cooperatively by 2030, ≥35% of defence trade conducted intra-EU by 2030, and ≥50% of EU-member defence expenditure directed to European-origin products by 2030 rising to ≥60% by 2035. The strategy is the programmatic framework underpinning EDIP (Regulation (EU) 2025/2643), EDF, ASAP and EDIRPA, and marks the first comprehensive attempt to embed defence industrial objectives into EU single-market and budgetary architecture.

OFAC published a final rule amending 22 parts of 31 CFR Chapter V to update administrative details with no substantive policy change. Changes include updating an OFAC office name and email address across 20 parts, removing mail-submission options in two parts, and replacing gendered pronouns ("his", "he") with inclusive alternatives ("theirs", "they") in four parts. The rule also corrects statutory authority citations in 31 CFR Part 594.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published a final rule in the Federal Register (89 FR 15769, FR Doc 2024-04500) renaming the Darfur Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 546) to the Sudan Stabilization Sanctions Regulations and amending them to implement Executive Order 14098 of May 4, 2023. E.O. 14098 broadened US sanctions authority beyond the Darfur-specific frame to cover all persons destabilising Sudan and undermining democratic transition, responding to the SAF–RSF armed conflict that erupted in April 2023. The rule adds new general licenses covering legal-service payments (§ 546.508), African Union transactions (§ 546.511), and agricultural/medical exports (§ 546.513), and introduces an interpretative provision clarifying that entities are not automatically blocked solely because a blocked individual holds a leadership position.

Decreto-legge n. 19 of 2 March 2024 ("PNRR-quater"), converted into Law n. 56 of 29 April 2024, delivers Italy's fourth package of NGEU/PNRR implementation measures. Article 38 establishes the Transizione 5.0 plan, a EUR 6.3 billion tax-credit programme financed from ECOFIN-derived RepowerEU allocations targeting combined digital and energy-transition capital expenditure by Italian firms in fiscal years 2024–2025. The plan requires a certified minimum energy-consumption reduction (≥3% at production-structure level or ≥5% at process level) and relies on the GSE (Gestore Servizi Energetici) for ex-ante and ex-post energy-savings audits, making this the first Italian industrial-policy instrument to hard-wire measurable energy efficiency into capex-incentive eligibility.

Belgium's Loi du 29 février 2024 (published in the Moniteur Belge on 27 May 2024, entering into force 1 June 2026) establishes the first comprehensive federal authorisation and traceability regime for pharmaceutical raw materials used by pharmacists in extemporaneous and magistral preparations. Manufacturers, importers, and distributors of covered materials must obtain AFMPS authorisation and comply with Good Manufacturing Practice and Good Distribution Practice standards; pharmacists may only source materials from authorised actors. The statute was enacted during Belgium's EU Council Presidency (H1 2024) and directly parallels the EU Critical Medicines Alliance architecture launched in Leuven on 24 April 2024, positioning Belgium as the first EU member state to operationalise a national supply-chain control layer for pharmaceutical compounding raw materials ahead of the forthcoming EU Critical Medicines Act.

On 29 February 2024 Switzerland's WBF decided to align with the EU's 13th Russia sanctions package by amending the Ordinance on Measures in Connection with the Situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72), effective 1 March 2024 at 18:00 CET. The amendment adds over 100 individuals and nearly 90 entities — mainly Russian military-industrial-complex firms and suppliers of DPRK-sourced weapons to Russia — to the asset-freeze and designation lists, and extends the dual-use/military-technology export ban to 27 additional companies believed to be circumventing existing controls.

On 28 February 2024 President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed one executive order and two presidential directives to revive upstream oil and gas investment in Nigeria after years of declining FDI: (i) the Oil and Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, etc.) Order, 2024 — establishing a gas tax credit for non-associated gas (NAG) greenfield projects and fiscal enablers for deep-water oil and gas; (ii) the Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance Requirements, 2024 — instructing the NCDMB to adapt enforcement of the Local Content Act to in-country capacity gaps; and (iii) the Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Costs and Timelines, 2024 — streamlining NUPRC and NNPCL contracting approvals. Effective immediately on signing.

The US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) final rule (89 FR 14385; FR Doc 2024-03969; Docket 240215-0050; RIN 0694-AJ54) added 93 entities under 95 entries to the Entity List, effective 23 February 2024, with destinations Russia (63), Turkey (16), China (8), UAE (4), Kyrgyzstan (2), India (1), and South Korea (1). The dominant rationale is enforcement of Russia-diversion controls: 46 Russian defense manufacturers are designated as military end users acquiring US-origin items for Russia's armed forces, five Chinese entities (including Dennex Enterprises Limited and Shenzhen Speed Industrial Materials Co.) are cited for facilitating diversion of controlled microelectronics to Russia, and 16 Turkish firms are cited as procurement hubs obtaining US-origin items of importance to Russia's war effort. Four UAE entities are designated for transshipment networks serving both Russia and Iran. All entities are subject to a presumption of denial for EAR-controlled items; Russian military end users are additionally subject to the Russia/Belarus FDP rule (15 CFR 734.9(g)).

Bureau of Industry and Security final rule (89 FR 14403, Doc 2024-03674) adding two entities under seven entries to the Entity List, effective February 27, 2024. Sandvine Incorporated, a Canadian deep packet inspection vendor, is listed across six destinations (Canada, India, Japan, Malaysia, Sweden, UAE) because it supplies DPI technology to the Government of Egypt where it is used for mass web-monitoring and censorship. Chengdu Beizhan Electronics Co., Ltd. is listed under China for acquiring and attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items on behalf of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), a PLA-affiliated institution already on the Entity List. All items subject to the EAR require a license with a presumption-of-denial review policy for both entities. The rule also revises entries for two existing Chinese entities and removes one UAE entry.

Commission Recommendation (EU) 2024/779 of 26 February 2024, published in the Official Journal on 8 March 2024, establishes the EU's first dedicated policy framework for the security and resilience of submarine cable infrastructure. It creates an informal Submarine Cable Infrastructure Expert Group of Member State authorities chaired by the Commission with ENISA participation, introduces the Cable Projects of European Interest (CPEI) designation mechanism for priority Union funding, and mandates a consolidated Union-wide risk and vulnerability assessment culminating in a Cable Security Toolbox of mitigating measures. Scope covers cables, landing stations, terrestrial tail connections, repair centres, and cable-laying vessel capacity. The recommendation is non-binding under TFEU Article 292 but constitutes the foundational soft-law framework that the later 2025 Cable Security Action Plan (JOIN(2025) 9) operationalises with binding CPEI lists and €347M CEF Digital funding.

On 26 February 2024, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 11981 ("Tatak Pinoy Act"), the first standalone national industrial policy law in Philippine history. It mandates the formulation, funding, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of a multi-year Tatak Pinoy Strategy organised around five pillars (human resources, infrastructure, technology and innovation, investments, sound financial management) and establishes the Tatak Pinoy Council, chaired by the DTI Secretary with NEDA and Finance secretaries as vice-chairs. On 24 October 2025, Marcos issued Memorandum Circular No. 104 approving the implementing Tatak Pinoy Strategy and directing all national agencies, GOCCs, and LGUs to prioritise local products in procurement, with local suppliers eligible for award if their bids are within 25% of the lowest foreign offer.