European Union Updates List of Dual-Use Items

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/1922 of 10 October 2018 amending Council Regulation (EC) No. 428/2009 setting up a Community regime for the control of exports, transfer, brokering and transit of dual-use items was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on December 14, 2018.

The regulation updates the European Union (EU) List of Dual-Use Items, found in Annex I of Council Regulation (EC) No. 428/2009, to align it with changes that occurred in the multilateral export control regimes (MECRs) in 2017. The 2018 EU list went into force on December 15, 2018.

Dual-use items are civilian goods and technologies that can be applied to a military or WMD end-use.

The MECRs are collections of countries that establish common standards and mechanisms, including guidelines and detailed lists, for implementing controls on items with military and WMD applications. The four principal MECRs are the Wassenaar Arrangement (dealing with conventional arms and related dual-use items), the Missile Technology Control Regime (dealing with missiles, other delivery systems, and related dual-use items), the Nuclear Suppliers Group (dealing with nuclear and nuclear-related items), and the Australia Group (dealing with chemicals, biological agents, and related dual-use items).

The new 2018 EU list changes the controls that apply in the EU to trade in items such as measuring and inspection equipment, robots with 3D image processing, numerical control units, ground based spacecraft control equipment, batch and continuous mixers, satellite navigation systems, and chemical and biological manufacturing equipment.

For more information, see “2018 Update of the EU Control List of Dual-Use Items,” http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2018/december/tradoc_157585.pdf.

The 2018 EU List of Dual-Use Items is available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2018.319.01.0001.01.ENG&toc=OJ:L:2018:319:TOC.

Author: Richard Glen Young, Richard.Young@SECURUSTrade.com, December 2018