On February 24, 2022, the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) within the US Commerce Department (“Commerce”) issued a final rule (“Final Rule”) effective immediately that implements a sweeping series of new export control measures under the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) against Russia. Commerce’s press release regarding these new controls can be found here.
These new US export control measures primarily target Russia’s defense, aerospace, and maritime sectors and are intended to curtail Russia’s ability to access technologies and other items that could be used to support its military capacities and defense industry. These expansive export control measures, along with the new sanctions adopted by the US Department of the Treasury, are part of the Biden Administration’s latest response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine and are in concert with export control developments in the European Union, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand.
We will analyze these new measures in a separate post to be published in the coming days. Our recent blog posts about US sanctions and export control developments related to Russia are available here, here, here, here, and here.
Importantly, the Final Rule includes two savings clauses. Under these clauses, shipments that can no longer rely on an EAR License Exception or NLR designation as a result of the new export control measures adopted in the Final Rule may proceed under a previously eligible License Exception or the NLR designation, provided that the shipments are en route aboard a carrier pursuant to actual orders by a specific date (the “Cut-off Date”).
- For shipments that require a specific BIS license as a result of the new controls in new Section 746.8(a)(2) and (3) of the EAR (i.e., the “foreign direct product rule” specific for Russia and Russian military end users), the Cut-off Date is March 26, 2022;
- For shipments that need a specific BIS license as a result of the other new measures, the Cut-off Date is February 24, 2022.
