The Biden administration announced March 2 additional export restrictions on Russia, and new ones on Belarus, in further response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’ support of that action.
Belarus. The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a final rule that, effective March 2, renders Belarus subject to the same sanctions imposed on Russia as of Feb. 24, including the following.
- imposes a new license requirement for exports to Belarus of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations and classified under any ECCN in categories 3 through 9 of the Commerce Control List
- specifies a license review policy of denial applicable to all license requirements for Belarus being added by this rule (with limited exceptions)
- adds Belarus to the two new foreign direct product rules put in place against Russia
- significantly restricts the use of EAR license exceptions
- expands the military end-use and military end-user control scope to include Belarus for all items subject to the EAR other than food and medicine designated EAR99
- adds two new Belarusian entities to the Entity List as military end-users
- imposes a license requirement for nuclear nonproliferation items for exports and reexports to Belarus
- removes Belarus from Country Group A:4 under the EAR
- amends the availability of license exceptions AVS and ENC for Russia and Belarus
Russia. A separate BIS final rule, also effective March 3, expands existing restrictions on exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) to Russia of items used in Russia’s energy sector to include additional equipment that would support Russia’s oil refining capacity over the long term. This rule also changes the license review policy for such shipments from a presumption of denial to the more restrictive policy of denial.
Entity List. A White House fact sheet said BIS will soon issue a rule adding to its Entity List entities that have been involved in, contributed to, or otherwise supported the Russian and Belarusian security services, military and defense sectors, and/or military and defense research and development efforts. Entities on this list are restricted from receiving U.S. exports of goods controlled under the EAR.
For more information on these regulations, please contact attorney Kristine Pirnia via email.
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