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

Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2023 on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data — the "Data Act" — was published in the Official Journal on 22 December 2023, entered into force on 11 January 2024, and applies generally from 12 September 2025 (with longer transitional periods for IoT product-design obligations under Article 3(1), which apply to products placed on the market after 12 September 2026, and for the data-portability standardisation framework, applicable from 12 September 2027). The Data Act is the third pillar of the EU data-economy framework alongside the GDPR (personal data) and the Data Governance Act 2022/868 (data-intermediation services), and is the world's first horizontal statutory regime governing access to and portability of industrial / IoT / non-personal data — covering by-design data-availability obligations on connected-product manufacturers, a mandatory cloud- switching framework with progressive elimination of switching charges, B2G emergency data-sharing in exceptional needs, unfair-contract-terms protection for SMEs, and safeguards against unlawful international government access to non-personal data held in EU cloud.

On 8 December 2023 the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a direct final rule (88 FR 85479; FR Doc 2023-26532) making two export-liberalisation amendments to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). First, BIS removes Chemical and Biological Weapons (CB) proliferation column controls from the Commerce Country Chart for exports of certain pathogens and toxins (ECCNs 1C351, 1C353, and 1C354) when destined to Australia Group (AG) member countries, on the basis that AG members operate equivalent domestic CBW-export controls. Second, the rule revises the Crime Control and Detection (CC) column entries for Austria, Finland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, South Korea, Sweden, and Switzerland, reflecting the updated US assessment of those countries' law-enforcement export-control standards. Both changes are effective on publication and reduce US export-licensing burdens for allied-country destinations without altering controls for non-allied markets.

At its 8th Decision-Making Meeting on 6 June 2023, Namibia's Cabinet approved a prohibition on the export of unprocessed critical minerals — specifically crushed lithium ore, cobalt, manganese, graphite, and rare earth elements — with only small quantities permitted for export upon written ministerial approval. The policy is operationalised through discretionary Ministerial authority under the Minerals (Prospecting and Mining) Act 33 of 1992, with no new statute enacted. The measure is designed to compel domestic beneficiation under Namibia's Mineral Beneficiation Strategy (MBS), capturing refining and processing margin that would otherwise accrue to consuming-country smelters.

The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Armenia approved Government Decision N 730-L on 11 May 2023, adopting the Mineral Sector Development Strategy of the Republic of Armenia and its accompanying Action Plan through 2035. The strategy establishes three principal goals: creation and maintenance of a unified national digital geological information database, effective decision-making in subsoil use and environmental protection, and compliance with international standards including EITI, IRMA, ICMM, and emerging EU CRM Act due-diligence requirements. Ten action-plan deliverables running through 2035 cover geological-information modernisation, subsoil-use licensing reform, environmental and social-impact assessment strengthening, artisanal-and-small-scale-mining (ASM) formalisation, and human-capital development; the decision was developed with World Bank technical assistance under the Armenia Mineral Sector Policy II grant programme.

Sierra Leone's National Minerals Agency gazetted the Mines and Minerals Development Regulations 2023 (Statutory Instrument No. 9 of 2023) in May 2023 as the primary implementing instrument for the Mines and Minerals Development Act 2022 (Act 16). The Regulations repeal and replace the 2009 Regulations, establishing operational frameworks across five licence categories. Key provisions include a mandatory 10% non-dilutable free carried interest for the state in large-scale licences, an option for the state to acquire up to 35% additional equity on negotiated terms, mandatory community development agreements (minimum 1% of gross revenue), and environmental impact assessment and environmental bond requirements for all categories.

The Wa State Central Economic Planning Commission (the administrative authority of the United Wa State Army's Special Region No. 2, controlling the Man Maw and Mong Yaw tin zones) issued Notice "Wa Jing Zi No. 2023-06" on April 15, 2023, mandating a comprehensive suspension of all mining, excavation, and mineral processing in Wa State until "mature mining conditions" are in place. A follow-up implementation order on May 20, 2023 confirmed all mines and processing plants—regardless of scale—must cease operations by August 1, 2023. Man Maw alone supplied approximately 10% of global tin concentrate, and LME three-month tin prices rose ~9% in the weeks following the April announcement. The suspension remained in force until mid-2025 when a new three-year licensing regime replaced it (see 2025-02-01-myanmar-wa-state-man-maw-tin-restart-licensing).

The Foreign Investment Reliability Assessment Act (välismaise investori usaldusväärsuse hindamise seadus, VUHS), adopted by the Riigikogu on 25 January 2023 and in force from 1 September 2023, establishes Estonia's first horizontal ex-ante foreign direct-investment screening regime. The Act transposes EU Regulation 2019/452 into Estonian law and designates the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (Tarbijakaitse ja Tehnilise Järelevalve Amet — TTJA) as the screening authority. It covers acquisitions of qualifying holdings or material influence in target undertakings operating in defence, dual-use, vital services, energy and communications infrastructure, transport, financial services, media, critical raw materials extraction and other strategic sectors. TTJA can prohibit, condition or unwind non-compliant transactions and impose administrative non-compliance levies.