At the Annual Compliance conference recently held in London, Baker McKenzie hosted a session on ‘The evolving national security, sanctions and export controls landscape’. This session introduced the concept of the “trade toolbox” — a growing set of measures designed to manage national security risks through trade and investment restrictions. Speakers highlighted the increasing complexity of global compliance, particularly in relation to business relating to China, Russia, and in the Middle East. China: outbound investment,…
To ensure domestic and international peace and security, amendments to Japan’s export controls were promulgated on 9 April 2025 in response to changes in the global security environment and based on the contents of the interim report issued on 24 April 2024.1 Most of the amendments will come into effect on 9 October 2025. The revisions to the catch-all regulation concerning conventional weapons are particularly significant. As amended, a Japanese exporter of commodity items not…
On 23 April 2025, the UK government published the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, which took effect on 24 April 2025. These new regulations amended the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to introduce additional trade restrictions, focusing on export and import prohibitions, technology, and software transfers. We have set out summaries of the key new measures below. Sectoral Software The amending regulations introduce prohibitions on making available and transferring “sectoral software” to…
The Council has adopted a new decision on arms-related export controls, emphasizing the importance of responsible arms trade policies, cooperation and convergence among Member States, and the prevention of diversion to unauthorized users. On 14 April, the Council concluded its review of the EU framework for arms export control by adopting a decision (15 April 2025)[1] amending the Council’s Common Position 2008/944/CFSP, defining common rules governing the control of exports of military technology and equipment,…