September 30, 2022

Export Controls on Russia and Belarus

Commerce Takes Further Actions to Expand and Tighten U.S. Export Controls on Russia and Belarus

On September 15, 2022, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a rule applying further restrictions on Russia and Belarus. The Department of Commerce will be using these actions to enhance the effectiveness of U.S. controls and to better align its controls on both Russia and Belarus with those implemented by U.S. allies.

“As numerous analyses have shown, Russia is struggling to repair, replace, and replenish its arms stockpiles and today’s action will continue to degrade their ability to sustain military aggression against Ukraine,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez. “We will continue working with our international partners to tighten our collective restrictions as necessary to maximize our impact and demonstrate to Russia and its enablers that we will not hesitate to act to further isolate them.”

“Today’s actions demonstrate that the U.S. and our international partners will continue to stand with Ukraine and clamp down on Russia’s access to technologies and items that may be used to support military capabilities,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Thea D. Rozman Kendler. “It also sends a clear message to those that seek to enable or support Russia’s military that we will not hesitate to take strong action to cut them off as well.”

The effective ruling date was September 15, 2022. The text of the rule can be found on the Federal Register's website.

The rule issued on September 15, 2022 imposes further export controls on industrial and commercial items that can support Russian and Belarusian military aggression against Ukraine. Specifically, the rule:
Expands the scope of the Russian industry sector sanctions to add items potentially useful for Russia’s chemical and biological weapons production capabilities and items needed for advanced production and development capabilities that enable advanced manufacturing across multiple industries
Imposes controls on quantum computing-related hardware, software, and technology, which complement an action taken by the Department of Treasury to prohibit quantum computing services to Russia and sanctions imposed by the Department of State on Russian companies supporting its quantum computing capabilities
Adds Belarus to the scope of industry sector sanctions that currently apply only to Russia
Expands the ‘military end user’ and ‘military-intelligence end user’ controls, which is applies the Russian/Belarusian-Military End User Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rule to entities located outside of Russia and Belarus that were previously added to the Entity List for having continued to supply Russian entities on the Entity List or are under sanctions since Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine (BIS June 28, 2022 announcement here). Labeling these entities as Russian ‘military end users’ and having the Russia/Belarus-Military End User FDP rule apply will degrade Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, as these entities produce items needed by the Russian and Belarusian military and industrial sectors
Refines existing controls on Russia and Belarus to more closely align with requirements implemented by allies by adding additional dollar value exclusion thresholds for "luxury goods"
Makes twelve additional corrections and clarifications to existing controls on Russia and Belarus and makes them more effective

For more information, visit https://www.bis.doc.gov/.