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

South Africa's Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, acting under sections 5 and 6 of the International Trade Administration Act 71 of 2002, published Government Gazette Notices R.2801-R.2804 (Gazette No. 47627, 30 November 2022). The notices impose a temporary six-month export ban (30 November 2022 - 30 May 2023) on ferrous and non-ferrous waste and scrap metal, suspend ITAC's Price Preference System for scrap metal for the same period, and introduce new export permit requirements on semi-finished metal products and import permit requirements on furnaces and scrap-melting machinery. The measure was framed as an emergency response to copper and scrap-metal theft from public infrastructure, estimated at roughly R47 billion a year.

The Bureau of Industry and Security expanded EAR sanctions against Russia and Belarus effective 15 September 2022, adding new export-control categories covering quantum computing equipment and related technology (new licensing requirements under a near-total policy of denial), discrete chemicals and biologics including fentanyl precursors and CBW-related production equipment (new Supplement No. 6 to Part 746), and 57 EAR99 industrial items added to the industry-sector sanctions list (Supplement No. 4). Six entities were concurrently designated as Russian Military End Users (MEU), and MEU/MIEU licensing restrictions were extended worldwide (previously limited to six countries). The rule also extended the Foreign Direct Product Rule to additional categories of foreign-made items.

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.

Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations via SOR/2022-102, registered 18 May 2022, adding Schedule 6 (luxury goods) and Schedule 7 (goods usable in weapons production/manufacturing) to the list of items prohibited for export to, and in Schedule 6's case also import from, Russia. Both schedules took effect 60 days after registration (17 July 2022). Schedule 6 covers luxury alcohol, tobacco, textiles, footwear, clothing, jewellery, kitchenware, art, and some machinery; Schedule 7 covers raw materials (including tungsten and aluminium), pumps, vehicle parts, construction equipment, watercraft, and medical/dental/surgical equipment. The regulation also added 14 individuals to the Schedule 1 asset-freeze list.

The U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) expanded export-control sanctions on Russian industry by adding 205 HTS codes (478 Schedule B numbers) to Supplement No. 4 to Part 746 of the EAR, imposing a license requirement — with a presumption of denial — for all exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) to or within Russia of covered industrial goods. The targeted categories span wood products, boilers, industrial machinery, pumps, compressors, textile and grinding equipment, and hydraulic motors, aligning U.S. controls with EU partner lists. The rule took retroactive effect May 9, 2022, two days before Federal Register publication on May 11, 2022.

Effective 2 March 2022, the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) extended to Belarus the same sweeping EAR sanctions imposed on Russia following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The rule adds Commerce Control List (CCL)-based license requirements for Belarus with a policy of denial across virtually all categories, extends both the Russia Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rule and the Russia Military End User (MEU) FDP rule to cover Belarus and Belarusian military end users, and aligns Belarus with Russia's license review policy. The action was triggered by Belarus's active enablement of the Russian military operation from its territory.