Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

Directive (EU) 2022/2557 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on the resilience of critical entities, published OJ L 333, 27 December 2022, entered into force 16 January 2023, with Member State transposition deadline 17 October 2024 (rules applicable from 18 October 2024). The CER Directive repeals Council Directive 2008/114/EC on European Critical Infrastructures, extending the scope from two sectors (energy, transport) to eleven essential-service sectors: energy, transport, banking, financial market infrastructures, health, drinking water, wastewater, digital infrastructure, public administration, space, and food. Member States must adopt national resilience strategies, conduct risk assessments at least every four years, identify "critical entities" providing essential services whose disruption would have significant cross-border impacts, and ensure those entities implement technical, security, and organisational resilience measures, business-continuity plans, incident-reporting obligations, and personnel-security background checks. The CER Directive is the physical and hybrid resilience twin to the NIS2 Directive (2022/2555) — the two instruments form the binding EU critical-infrastructure-protection architecture replacing the 2008/114/EC regime.

Directive (EU) 2022/2555 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (NIS 2 Directive), published OJ L 333, 27 December 2022, entered into force 16 January 2023. NIS2 repeals and substantially expands the 2016 NIS1 Directive (2016/1148), extending the scope from ~7 sectors to 18 enumerated essential and important sectors, imposing binding cybersecurity risk- management and incident-reporting obligations on covered entities, introducing board-level management accountability, and mandating Member State transposition by 17 October 2024. NIS2 is the structural EU statutory anchor for national cybersecurity frameworks across the bloc, operating alongside DORA (Reg 2022/2554) for financial-sector digital resilience and CRA (Reg 2024/2847) for product cybersecurity.

OFAC issued a determination under Executive Order 14071 (Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions) effective December 5, 2022, establishing a $60/barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil. The measure prohibits US persons from providing six categories of covered services — trading/commodities brokering, financing, shipping, insurance (including reinsurance and P&I), flagging, and customs brokering — for the maritime transport of Russian crude oil unless the oil is purchased at or below $60/bbl. The determination was coordinated with the EU, G7 nations, and Australia as a unified coalition instrument designed to reduce Russian oil revenues while keeping global energy markets supplied. Three general licenses (GL 55, 56, 57) carved out limited exemptions for Japan's Sakhalin-2 imports, certain EU landlocked states, and vessel emergencies.

Switzerland's Federal Council amended the Ordinance on measures in connection with the situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72) to align with the EU's eighth sanctions package, effective 6pm on 23 November 2022. The amendment creates the Swiss legal basis for an oil price-cap mechanism — banning maritime transport to third countries of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products unless purchased at or below a price cap to be set later (the G7/EU $60/bbl cap followed on 3 December 2022; see the companion US OFAC determination of 2022-12-05). It also extends import/export restrictions to additional iron and steel products and aerospace goods, bans the provision of IT, engineering, architecture and legal services to the Russian government and Russian companies, bans Swiss nationals from holding board seats at certain Russian state-owned companies, fully bans crypto-asset wallet/account/custody services to Russian persons regardless of value, and adopts an arms embargo against Russia (extended in part to Ukraine for reasons of Swiss neutrality).

Angola's Ministry of Transport formalised a 30-year concession to Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR — Trafigura 49.5% / Mota-Engil 49.5% / Vecturis S.A. 1%) for the operation, management and maintenance of the Lobito Corridor — comprising the 1,300 km Benguela Railway from the Port of Lobito to Luau (Angola-DRC border) and the Lobito port mineral terminal. The international tender was won on 4 November 2022; the concession contract was signed on 4 July 2023 at a ceremony attended by the Presidents of Angola, the DRC and Zambia. LAR commenced operations in January 2024. The concession is paired with the trilateral Lobito Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency Agreement (LCTTFA), signed at Lobito Port on 27 January 2023 by the Transport ministers of Angola, the DRC and Zambia, which establishes the cross-border customs/transit framework for the corridor.

Law No. 162 of 2022, approved by the Egyptian House of Representatives on 18 October 2022 and ratified by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at the end of October 2022, establishes (i) the Supreme Council for the Automotive Industry — chaired by the Prime Minister with Ministers of Industry (Deputy Chair), Planning, Finance, Transport, and State for Military Production, plus four nominated experts — as the inter-ministerial policy body for localising vehicle manufacturing, and (ii) the Environment-Friendly Automotive Industry Financing Fund as a dedicated public-finance vehicle for EV/PHEV/CNG production support. The Supreme Council held its first meeting under PM Mostafa Madbouly on 15 February 2023. The framework was operationalised via the National Automotive Industry Development Programme (AIDP), launched at IATF 2023 (Cairo, 9–15 November 2023). AIDP grants tiered incentives keyed to local value-add, annual production volume, new investment value, and emissions performance, targeting ~400,000 vehicles/year by 2030 with a step-up of mandatory local content from ~45% to 60% by 2030. This is the first Egypt and first North-African automotive industrial-policy action in the IPTM register.

On 6 October 2022 the Council of the European Union adopted Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1904, amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014, as the EU's eighth package of restrictive measures against Russia. It entered into force 7 October 2022. The regulation's headline measure creates the legal basis for an oil price-cap mechanism: a ban on maritime transport to third countries of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products, becoming operational once the Council sets an actual cap level by a separate decision (the G7/EU $60/bbl cap followed on 3 December 2022). The package also expands import bans on steel products (phased through 2024), firearms and ammunition, wood pulp and paper, and certain chemicals, cosmetics and jewellery materials; extends export bans on aviation-sector goods; bans the provision of architectural, engineering, IT-consultancy and legal advisory services to the Russian government and Russian companies; and imposes restrictions on Russian-flagged vessels at the Russian Maritime Register.

Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1903 amends Regulation (EU) 2022/263 so that its import ban and export restrictions, previously limited to the non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, also cover the non-government-controlled areas of Ukraine's Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. It was adopted on 6 October 2022 alongside the eighth Russia sanctions package and entered into force the day after publication in the Official Journal.

President Ilham Aliyev signed Presidential Sərəncam (Order) No. 3378 on 22 July 2022 approving the Strategy for the Socio-Economic Development of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2022-2026, operationalising the Azerbaijan 2030: National Priorities for Socio-Economic Development (February 2021) across five pillars: (1) sustainably growing competitive economy, (2) dynamic inclusive socially just society, (3) competitive human capital and modern innovations, (4) Great Return to liberated territories, and (5) clean environment and green growth. The strategy serves as the master policy chassis for SOCAR's investment programme across upstream (Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, Shah Deniz), midstream (Southern Gas Corridor — TANAP + TAP delivering ~12 bcm/year to Europe and Turkiye), and downstream (Heydar Aliyev Baku Refinery, SOCAR Turkiye STAR Refinery, SOCAR Petkim), and anchors the July 2022 EU-Azerbaijan Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Partnership in the Field of Energy, under which Azerbaijan committed to supply more than 20 bcm/year to Europe by 2027. The strategy also provides the policy foundation for offshore wind and solar agreements with Masdar (UAE) and ACWA Power (Saudi Arabia) under the green-growth pillar, and for the Karabakh and East Zangezur economic-region reconstruction programme following the September 2023 reintegration.

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.

On 8 April 2022 the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation (EU) 2022/576, further amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 (the fifth package of measures against Russia). It bans imports of Russian coal and other solid fossil fuels, wood, cement, rubber, fertilisers, high-end seafood and spirits; bans exports to Russia of jet fuel, quantum computers, advanced semiconductors, high-end electronics and sensitive machinery; bars Russian and Belarusian road-freight operators from EU territory; and closes EU ports to Russian-flagged vessels. It entered into force on 9 April 2022, the day after publication in the Official Journal (OJ L 111).

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.

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.

SARS amended South Africa's Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list on 2022-03-23 to add both import and export licensing requirements — administered with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy — covering uranium ores and concentrates (HS 2612.10), molybdenum ores and concentrates (HS 2613.10), depleted-uranium transport containers and isotope projectors (HS 2844.10/20/30/40, 9022.19), nuclear-grade graphite, graphite blocks and graphite electrodes (HS 8545.11/19). Both directions of trade in these items now require a permit rather than moving freely across South African borders.

On 15 March 2022 the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation (EU) 2022/428, amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 (the fourth package of measures against Russia). It bans imports, purchase and transport of the iron and steel products listed in a new Annex XVII that originate in or are exported from Russia, bans the sale or export of Annex XVIII luxury goods to Russia (above EUR 300 per item unless otherwise specified), and prohibits transactions with the Russian state-controlled entities listed in Annex XIX. The Regulation entered into force on the day after its publication in the Official Journal (OJ L 87 I, 15.3.2022), i.e. 16 March 2022.

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, OFAC published an interim final rule adding the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations (RuHSR) at 31 CFR Part 587, codifying into Title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations all prohibitions previously imposed by Executive Order 14024 of 15 April 2021. The regulations were issued in abbreviated form to provide immediate public guidance, with OFAC indicating an intent to supplement them with additional definitions, general licenses, and interpretive guidance. All transactions prohibited under EO 14024 — including prior sectoral determinations and directives targeting Russia's financial services sector, sovereign debt markets, and key state institutions — are formally prohibited under Part 587, giving domestic courts and compliance teams a stable regulatory anchor.

The Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (Ukraine Regions) Regulations 2022 (F2022L00179) apply to the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk the autonomous sanctions measures already in place for Crimea and Sevastopol, commencing 28 March 2022. DFAT describes the measures as prohibiting trade in the transport, energy, telecommunications, and oil, gas and minerals sectors of those regions. Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced Australia's response on 24 February 2022, alongside listings of Russian individuals and banks.

Council Regulation (EU) 2022/263 prohibits importing into the EU any goods originating in the non-government-controlled areas of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and bans the sale, supply, transfer or export of Annex II goods and technology (transport, telecommunications, energy, resource extraction) to those areas. It also bars new investment and financing there. It entered into force the day after adoption, 24 February 2022.