On January 4, 2023, Taiwan announced the addition of 52 new export control entries controlling nuclear energy and other commodities, materials and chemicals, tools and machineryfor Russia and Belarus.
Taiwan has been rigorously monitoring exports of goods from Taiwanese producers to Russia and Belarus since March 1, 2022 under the Wassenaar Arrangement. In April and May 2022, Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) widened the scope of export restrictions to 57 products falling within the Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) Categories 3 to 9, including computer information, sensors, lasers, and aerospace products. In 2023, the export control list is further expanded to cover new products in Categories 0, 1, and 2, which is in line with the export regulations of the European Union and the United States.
- Category 0 refers to nuclear materials, facilities, equipment, and miscellaneous things. Category 0 products include police batons and other law enforcement weapons, foot and handcuffs, law enforcement restraints, electroshock handcuff belts, torture implements, etc.
- Category 1 products include high-strength fiber and filamentous materials, ricin, snail toxin (conch toxin), botulinum toxin, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), ammonium nitrate (including fertilizer and mixed fertilizer), 304 and 316 stainless steel plates, tributyl phosphate, nitric acid, etc.
- Category 2 products refer to the processing of materials and include CNC lathes, integrated machining centers, CNC grinders, discharge machining centers, sophisticated rotary tables with five axes of machining, oscillating spindles, and controllers.
Taiwan exporters must first submit an application to the Bureau of Foreign Trade, MOEA, for a Strategic High-Tech Commodities (SHTC) export license before they can send the aforementioned goods from Taiwan to Russia and Belarus. The Bureau of Foreign Trade, MOEA will decide whether to approve the export based on the product’s end-use and whether the end-user is engaged in large-scale weapons proliferation in accordance with the Enforcement Rules of the Trade Act if the exporter received payment prior to the 2023 expansion of the export control list. Aside from these instances, Taiwan regulator will strictly review the application and will, in general, reject the application.
