Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2666 actions· ✨ 90 recent

On 16 December 2022 the Council of the European Union adopted Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2474, the 9th package of restrictive measures against Russia, amending Regulation (EU) 833/2014. It entered into force on publication the following day (17 December 2022). The package extends the prohibition on new EU investment from the Russian energy sector to the Russian mining and quarrying sector, bans exports of aircraft and drone engines and their parts to Russia (and to any third country that could re-supply drones to Russia), adds 168 entities to the sectoral export- control annex covering chemicals, nerve agents, night-vision and radio- navigation equipment, electronics and IT components, and prohibits EU advertising, market-research, product-testing and technical-inspection services to Russia. A parallel Council Decision/Implementing Regulation designated a further 141 individuals and 49 entities to the EU asset-freeze and travel-ban list.

The US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) removed nine Russian persons from the Unverified List (UVL) and simultaneously added them to the Entity List after the Russian government failed to facilitate end-use checks for more than 60 days — the first application of BIS's October 2022 escalation policy. All nine entities are subject to a license requirement covering all items subject to the EAR, with a policy of denial and no license exceptions available. The list spans electronics traders, state maritime infrastructure, defense R&D, microelectronics, and industrial equipment manufacturers.

Belgium's first horizontal foreign-direct-investment screening regime, established by a Cooperation Agreement signed on 30 November 2022 between the Federal State and the Flemish, Walloon, Brussels-Capital and German-Community governments, and in force from 1 July 2023. The agreement creates a centralised Interfederal Screening Commission (ISC), chaired by the FPS Economy, to receive and process mandatory ex-ante notifications of foreign acquisitions of 10%, 25% or higher voting-rights / control thresholds (sector-dependent) in Belgian undertakings active in eleven strategic sectors. ISC decisions are binding; sanctions for failure to notify or for non-compliance with conditions imposed include unwinding of the transaction and administrative fines.

Act No. 497/2022 Coll. on the Screening of Foreign Investments and on amendments to certain acts, adopted by the National Council of the Slovak Republic on 29 November 2022 and promulgated in the Zbierka zákonov on 23 December 2022, established Slovakia's first horizontal ex-ante foreign-direct-investment screening regime. The Act took effect on 1 March 2023, transposing EU Regulation 2019/452 into Slovak law and replacing the prior sector-specific approach under Act No. 45 on critical infrastructure. Screening is administered by the Ministry of the Economy of the Slovak Republic across three procedures (mandatory, voluntary, and ex officio) and covers transactions in defence, dual-use, critical infrastructure, critical raw materials, biotechnology, AI, semiconductors and other emerging technologies. The Ministry can prohibit, condition or unwind non-compliant transactions and impose administrative penalties.

On 19 October 2022, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Russian national Yury Yuryevich Orekhov, resident in Dubai, UAE, under Executive Order 14024 for operating a network that procured military and sensitive dual-use technology from Western suppliers for Russian end-users. Two entities tied to Orekhov were designated alongside him: NDA Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau GmbH, based in Hamburg, Germany, and Opus Energy Trading LLC, based in Dubai, UAE. The designation blocks all US property and interests of the designated persons and generally prohibits US persons from transacting with them.

The UK laid the Republic of Belarus (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (UKSI 2022/748), in force 5 July 2022, extending the Belarus sanctions regime to mirror measures already imposed on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. The regulations ban export to Belarus of dual-use goods and technology for all purposes, and of critical-industry goods and technology including quantum-computing components, microelectronics, marine and navigation equipment, and aircraft/aircraft parts. They widen existing import bans to cover a greater range of petroleum/mineral products and prohibit import of arms, iron and steel products originating in or consigned from Belarus, and extend financial sanctions barring Belarusian companies from issuing debt or securities in London or obtaining loans from UK banks, and barring UK persons from providing financial services to the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus or the Belarusian Ministry of Finance.

The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding 36 entities under 41 entries to the Entity List, effective June 28, 2022. The entities — located across China, Lithuania, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, the UAE, the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam — were designated for acting contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. Key grounds include support for China's military modernization and AI-enabled surveillance programs, Pakistan-based proliferation concerns, and supply-chain facilitation for Russia amid the Ukraine invasion. The rule also revised eleven existing entries (Belarus, China, Russia, Slovakia) and corrected one entry (Pakistan).

Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Belarus) Regulations via SOR/2022-167, registered and in force 25 June 2022, adding four new schedules targeting Belarus over its support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Schedule 3 bans export of advanced technologies (quantum computers, advanced manufacturing and cryogenic equipment); Schedule 4 bans export of luxury goods (Part 1) and import of luxury goods from Belarus (Part 2); Schedule 5 bans export of goods usable in weapons manufacturing, including raw materials such as tungsten, aluminium and titanium, engines, industrial machinery, vehicles, aircraft and maritime vessels. The same instrument added 13 Belarusian officials and 2 state entities to the asset-freeze list.

The Wet veiligheidstoets investeringen, fusies en overnames ("Vifo Act") is the Netherlands' cross-sector statutory FDI screening regime. Adopted by the States-General on 18 May 2022 (Stb. 2022, 215) and entered into force on 1 June 2023 together with two implementing decrees (Stb. 2023, 173 — main implementing decree; Stb. 2023, 172 — decree defining the scope of "sensitive technology"), the Act establishes mandatory pre-closing notification and a security review by the Bureau Toetsing Investeringen (BTI, part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate) for transactions affecting (i) "vital providers" in critical infrastructure sectors — energy, transport, telecoms, port operators, banking infrastructure — and (ii) Dutch undertakings active in "sensitive technology", defined to include EU Reg 2021/821 Annex I dual-use items, military goods, and additional national-security technologies. The regime applies retrospectively to transactions completed after 8 September 2020. It is the foundational instrument under which the Dutch national export-control measures on ASML DUV immersion lithography (filed: 2023-06-30 and 2024-09-07) operate, and the Dutch peer of US CFIUS, EU Regulation 2019/452, the German AWG §§55-62, the French Décret 2014-479 / R. 151-1 et seq., and the UK NSI Act 2021.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a final rule expanding license requirements under the EAR for all items on the Commerce Control List (CCL) destined for Russia and Belarus, retroactively effective April 8, 2022. The rule also removes certain license exceptions that previously allowed aircraft-related transactions involving Belarus to proceed without authorization. Issued in direct response to Russia's continued aggression in Ukraine and Belarus's role in enabling it, this measure substantially tightens the multilateral export- control perimeter first established by BIS in late February 2022.

BIS amended the Export Administration Regulations to add Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland to the list of countries excluded from certain EAR license requirements that apply to items destined for Russia or Belarus. The exclusion recognizes that these four countries have implemented substantially similar export-control regimes aligned with US restrictions, and applies specifically to the Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rule under EAR Part 734.9. The change reduces the licensing burden for entities in these partner countries when producing or handling items using US-origin technology or equipment in transactions with Russia/Belarus, consistent with the broader allied coordination approach adopted after February 2022.

Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Belarus) Regulations via SOR/2022-075, registered and in force 5 April 2022, in response to Belarus's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The amendment prohibits any person in Canada and any Canadian outside Canada from providing insurance, reinsurance or underwriting services for aviation and aerospace products owned, controlled, registered to, chartered by or operated by Belarus or a Belarusian person. A new section 3.6 separately establishes export prohibitions on goods and technologies listed on a Belarus Restricted Goods and Technologies List, incorporated by reference, aligning Canada's Belarus measures with its parallel Russia export-control regime. The same instrument added nine individuals (Belarusian oligarchs and defence officials) to the Schedule 1 asset-freeze list, outside this action's scope.

On 4 April 2022 Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs registered the Autonomous Sanctions (Export Sanctioned Goods—Russia) Amendment (No.1) Designation 2022, made under the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011. It amended the existing Export Sanctioned Goods—Russia designation to add further categories of goods to the list of items whose export, supply or transfer to Russia is prohibited, extending an export-ban regime introduced in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It took effect on registration.

Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations via SOR/2022-067, registered and in force 24 March 2022, establishing a new "Restricted Goods and Technologies List" and prohibiting any person in Canada, and any Canadian outside Canada, from exporting, selling, supplying or shipping any listed good or technology to Russia or to any person in Russia. The list is maintained and published separately by Global Affairs Canada and covers items with dual civilian/military applications across electronics, computers, telecommunications, sensors and lasers, navigation and avionics, marine, aerospace and transportation equipment.

BIS amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to add the Republic of Korea (South Korea) to Supplement No. 3 to Part 746 — the list of partner countries excluded from certain license requirements under § 746.8 that apply to items destined for Russia or Belarus. South Korea received a "Full" designation, meaning it is fully exempt from the Russia/Belarus Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rule license requirements provided it maintains substantially similar export controls on Russia and Belarus under its own laws. The rule was effective March 4, 2022, six days before its publication in the Federal Register (87 FR 13627).

On 6 March 2022, the South Korean government determined that Belarus had materially supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine and announced it would extend the export-control measures already applied to Russia to Belarus as well. Effective 7 March 2022, Korea designated two Belarusian entities (Belarus's Ministry of Defence and a second entity) to its "parties of concern" list, triggering a case-by-case licensing requirement for strategic items under Korea's multilateral export-control regime, and tightened review of non-strategic dual-use items destined for Belarus.

On 4 March 2022 Switzerland's Federal Council adopted a total revision of the Ordinance on Measures Relating to the Situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72), taking effect the same day at 18:00, to fully implement the EU's sanctions packages of 23 and 25 February 2022. The revision bans export of all dual-use goods to Russia regardless of end use or end user, bans export of goods that could contribute to Russia's military or technological strengthening or its defence and security sector, and prohibits export of specified goods and services to the oil sector, as well as goods for aviation, space and oil-refining/gas-liquefaction use.

On 2 March 2022 the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation (EU) 2022/355, amending Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Belarus. It bans importing, purchasing or transporting products originating in or exported from Belarus in wood (Annex X), cement (Annex XI), iron and steel (Annex XII) and rubber (Annex XIII), and extends restrictions to potassium chloride ("potash"), tobacco and mineral products, plus a ban on exporting dual-use goods, machinery (Annex XIV) and goods usable for Belarus's military or security development. The measure responds to Belarus's active facilitation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It entered into force the day after publication in the Official Journal (OJ L 67, 2 March 2022), i.e. 3 March 2022, with a wind-down period to 4 June 2022 for pre-existing contracts.

On 1 March 2022 Japan's Foreign Minister announced a second package of sanctions over Russia's military action in Ukraine. It suspended visas for and froze assets of designated Russia-related individuals and entities, froze the assets of three Russian banks (VEB.RF, Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya), and imposed export restrictions on Russian military-related entities and on controlled items on internationally agreed lists and other dual-use goods such as semiconductors. Relevant ministries were to proceed with the domestic implementing procedures.

On 25 February 2022, the day after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation (EU) 2022/328, amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014. It prohibits the sale, supply, transfer or export of dual-use goods and technology to any person, entity or body in Russia, or for military use or military end-users there, and extends to goods and technology suited for use in the oil refining industry and for the aviation and space industry, alongside a ban on related technical assistance, brokering, financing and insurance/maintenance services. The Regulation entered into force on the day after its Official Journal publication (OJ L 49, 25.2.2022), i.e. 26 February 2022.

Effective 3 February 2022, the Bureau of Industry and Security published a final rule (87 FR 6231, FR Doc 2022-02302) consolidating all existing Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rules from scattered locations in EAR Parts 736 and 744 into a single new section, 15 CFR §734.9, under Part 734 (Scope of the EAR). The rule made no substantive changes to existing controls — it reorganised four pre-existing FDP rules (National Security, 9x515, 600 Series, and Entity List) into a clean §734.9(b)–(e) architecture, clarified the definition of "major component" at §734.9(a), and corrected a drafting ambiguity that had obscured the U.S.-origin technology trigger for three of the four rules. The newly created §734.9 structure became the vehicle used by BIS to add the Russia/Belarus FDP rule (§734.9(f)) just 21 days later, on 24 February 2022.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) extended for a second time the temporary unilateral export control on software classified as ECCN 0D521 — "software specially designed for training a Deep Convolutional Neural Network to automate the analysis of geospatial imagery and point clouds" — adding a third year of control through January 6, 2023. The extension was required because COVID-19 prevented the Wassenaar Arrangement from formally convening in 2020 or holding sufficient deliberations in 2021 to consider the US multilateral control proposal submitted in 2020. Only License Exception GOV (§ 740.11(b)(2)(ii)) is available; all other exports require a specific license from BIS.