Sanctions database

Items requiring a license under these new controls will be reviewed under a licensing policy of denial, except that the following license applications will be reviewed by BIS on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the transaction would benefit the Belarusian government or defense sector or present a risk of diversion to Russia: related to safety of flight or maritime safety; for civil nuclear safety; to meet humanitarian needs; in support of government space cooperation; for companies headquartered in Country Groups A:5 and A:6 to support civil telecommunications infrastructure; involving government-to-government activities.
The Final Rule narrows License Exception ENC for both Belarus and Russia. Specifically, License Exception ENC is now only available for exports and reexports to, and transfers in, Belarus and Russia for a narrower subset of end-users – i.e., (i) civil end-users that are wholly-owned US subsidiaries, (ii) foreign subsidiaries of US companies that are joint ventures with other US companies, (iii) joint ventures of US companies with companies headquartered in countries from Country Group A:5 and A:6 in supplement, (iv) the wholly-owned subsidiaries of companies headquartered in countries from Country Group A:5 and A:6, or (v) joint ventures of companies headquartered in Country Group A:5 and A:6 with other companies headquartered in Country Groups A:5 and A:6 (“Authorized ENC End-Users“).
The final rule specifies that certain license exceptions for transactions involving Russia similarly apply for transactions involving Belarus. Specifically, the license exceptions that now apply to Belarus are: License Exception TMP for items for use by news media; License Exception GOV; License Exception TSU for software updates for civil end users that are subsidiaries or joint of ventures of companies headquartered in the United States or a country or countries from Country Groups A:5 and A:6; License Exception BAG, excluding firearms and ammunition; License Exception AVS (which now excludes any aircraft registered in, owned, or controlled by, or under charter or lease by Russia or a national of Russia); License Exception ENC, with its eligibility being narrowed; License Exception CCD (which previously only included Cuba and Russia, but now also includes Belarus).
License Exception CCD authorizes specific types of consumer communications devices and software subject to the EAR to be exported or reexported to, or transferred in, Russia or Belarus so long as they are either for independent non-governmental organizations or civilians who are not government officials. Editors of state-run media organizations are considered government officials. The types of authorized items under License Exception CCD are those that are controlled for Anti-Terrorism reasons only and that are consumer computers, consumer disk drives, solid state storage equipment, monitors, printers, modems, network access controllers, communications channel controllers, mobile phones, SIM cards, memory devices, consumer information security equipment, peripherals, digital cameras, televisions, radios, recording devices and consumer software (other than encryption source code) for use with such devices. License Exception CCD is not a general carve-out for all types of items that are consumer devices. It applies only to the devices specifically identified in the exception that fall within the scope of the specific ECCNs noted in the exception.

Items requiring a license under these new controls will be reviewed under a licensing policy of denial, except that the following license applications will be reviewed by BIS on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the transaction would benefit the Belarusian government or defense sector or present a risk of diversion to Russia: related to safety of flight or maritime safety; for civil nuclear safety; to meet humanitarian needs; in support of government space cooperation; for companies headquartered in Country Groups A:5 and A:6 to support civil telecommunications infrastructure; involving government-to-government activities.
The Final Rule narrows License Exception ENC for both Belarus and Russia. Specifically, License Exception ENC is now only available for exports and reexports to, and transfers in, Belarus and Russia for a narrower subset of end-users – i.e., (i) civil end-users that are wholly-owned US subsidiaries, (ii) foreign subsidiaries of US companies that are joint ventures with other US companies, (iii) joint ventures of US companies with companies headquartered in countries from Country Group A:5 and A:6 in supplement, (iv) the wholly-owned subsidiaries of companies headquartered in countries from Country Group A:5 and A:6, or (v) joint ventures of companies headquartered in Country Group A:5 and A:6 with other companies headquartered in Country Groups A:5 and A:6 (“Authorized ENC End-Users“).
The final rule specifies that certain license exceptions for transactions involving Russia similarly apply for transactions involving Belarus. Specifically, the license exceptions that now apply to Belarus are: License Exception TMP for items for use by news media; License Exception GOV; License Exception TSU for software updates for civil end users that are subsidiaries or joint of ventures of companies headquartered in the United States or a country or countries from Country Groups A:5 and A:6; License Exception BAG, excluding firearms and ammunition; License Exception AVS (which now excludes any aircraft registered in, owned, or controlled by, or under charter or lease by Russia or a national of Russia); License Exception ENC, with its eligibility being narrowed; License Exception CCD (which previously only included Cuba and Russia, but now also includes Belarus).
License Exception CCD authorizes specific types of consumer communications devices and software subject to the EAR to be exported or reexported to, or transferred in, Russia or Belarus so long as they are either for independent non-governmental organizations or civilians who are not government officials. Editors of state-run media organizations are considered government officials. The types of authorized items under License Exception CCD are those that are controlled for Anti-Terrorism reasons only and that are consumer computers, consumer disk drives, solid state storage equipment, monitors, printers, modems, network access controllers, communications channel controllers, mobile phones, SIM cards, memory devices, consumer information security equipment, peripherals, digital cameras, televisions, radios, recording devices and consumer software (other than encryption source code) for use with such devices. License Exception CCD is not a general carve-out for all types of items that are consumer devices. It applies only to the devices specifically identified in the exception that fall within the scope of the specific ECCNs noted in the exception.

The fact that more items are now controlled to Russia also means that US-origin items classified in CCL Categories 3-9 incorporated into foreign items must be counted as controlled to Russia except for transactions meeting the following two conditions:
– Items controlled for Anti-Terrorism (“AT”) reasons only, listing countries that BIS has determined are committed to implementing substantially similar export controls on Russia under their domestic law; and
– the foreign item will be exported from a country listed in Russia Exclusions List.
Exports or reexports of items caught by the Russia FDP Rule from countries listed on the Russia Exclusions List do not require a BIS license because BIS has determined that these countries are committed to implementing substantially similar export controls on Russia under their domestic law. This would appear to avoid dual-licensing requirements for items caught by the Russia FDP Rule and exported to Russia from a country listed on the Russia Exclusions List.

OFAC also released a number of new general licenses, concentrating on agriculture and medical (re)exports, mailing services, business of international organisations and other non-commercial activities or related to individuals in the targeted regions,

Exemptions from license requirements are available for non-sanctioned Russian nationals – such as authorized employees of US firms operating in Russia – to permit those personnel to continue to receive or access EAR technology and software that were not otherwise subject to preexisting license requirements prior to the new rule,
While companies should evaluate applicability of these license exceptions, of particular note are that License Exception ENC continues to be available for exports and reexports to, and transfers in, Russia except in transactions involving Russian government end users (defined in Part 772 of the EAR) or SOEs (undefined in the EAR). Notably, encryption items classified in Export Control Classification Numbers (“ECCNs”) 5A992 or 5D992.c are now controlled to Russia and License Exception ENC does not apply to such items. As a result, companies will need to evaluate whether they can rely on another license exception, such as License Exceptions TSU and CCD, which will provide relief in some cases.