Dual Use Regulation - Current changes

At the end of the year, the annexes to the Dual Use Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2021/821) were adapted to current technical developments. The amendments are expected to come into force at the end of 2024/beginning of 2025. The EU Commission has already published a draft on this.1

The BAFA (Federal Office of Economics and Export Control) provides a comparison of the ammendents, which can be used to check whether any changes apply for your own goods (please note that there are some minor changes in technical equipment parameters).

Dual-use goods are goods with a dual purpose - i.e. goods that can be used for both civilian and military purposes or that can be manufactured for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In terms of export control, these are not only products, but also software and the transfer of knowledge that enables the production of these goods.

The European Union is a member of various regimes that monitor international developments with regard to the proliferation of chemical, nuclear or biological weapons of mass destruction and adapt the annexes to the Dual-Use Regulation in line with current technical conditions.

What needs to be considered when exporting dual-use goods?

The first step is to identify these goods within the production.

The customs tariff code only gives a hint to categorise the products and assigns those to TARIC measures. Not all products of one custom code have to be dual-use-items. Therefore goods falling under export restrictions are listed in the annexes of the Dual-Use Regulation (EU) 2021/821.

At international level, there are various expert groups that define the technical requirements that make goods interesting for the proliferation of nuclear, chemical or weapons of mass destruction. As new weapons or production methods are developed, the list of these goods must be constantly updated.

How do I know whether I need an export authorisation?

Within the customs tariff, products are indicates the need of an export authorisation, otherwise the code Y901 (not included in the annexes of the dual-use regulation can be used. The corresponding number of the goods lists can be found in the BAFA's recoding directory, where the technical specification can then ultimately be looked up under the number of the goods list.

As a rule, dual-use goods have very precisely defined special features. If the goods are clearly not included in the dual-use list, the goods can be coded with the code Y901 (not included in the dual-use list) without further proof. The possible codes for a goods tariff number can be found in the M.SecureTrade export control application, in which the current customs code lists are stored. You can also pre-assign individual goods tariff numbers or articles with the corresponding coding and transfer this information to your M.SecureTrade ATLAS export declaration, as well as check other export restrictions.

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