Law Firm: EU Export Control Updates Highlight Shift Away From Multilateral Bodies
The increasing trend by Wassenaar Arrangement members, including those in the EU, of adopting export controls outside the regime reflects a shift away from multilateral bodies and “increases the risk of a patchwork of controls within the EU single market,” Akin said in a client alert.
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The EU recently updated its dual-use export control list, including by adding new controls that some Wassenaar members have adopted on their own because Russia has vetoed new controls at the regime, which requires a consensus (see 2509090009). Akin said those EU controls and similar restrictions introduced by the Netherlands, France, Spain and others (see 2410030050) are “particularly significant given the growing dysfunction in consensus-based governance systems such as” Wassenaar. This has resulted in a “fragmented approach to export controls among participating countries.”
The controls introduced by individual EU countries represent a “broader move towards national measures in response to the challenges of achieving consensus at the multilateral level,” the firm said.
It also said EU exporters should analyze the bloc’s recent updates and “carefully” determine whether their products, software or technology are affected. “The changes may impact licensing requirements,” it noted, “especially for those involved in advanced computing, semiconductor manufacturing, additive manufacturing and biotechnology.”