NEWSLETTER No. 50 / September & October 2013 A newsletter published by the EU Outreach Programmes on export control which are implemented by the Federal Office of Economics IN FOCUS Accession of Croatia to the European Union With the accession of Croatia to the European Union on 1 July 2013, the EU-Outreach Programme in Export Control of Dual-use Items looks back on a longstanding and fruitful cooperation with its Croatian partners in the field of dual-use export control. Even though cooperation under the EU-Outreach Programme with Croatia as a partner country has been successfully concluded, we look forward to Croatian officials supporting the EU-Outreach Programme in an expert capacity in the future. This article reflects on the trustful and dynamic cooperation with Croatia, being one of the partner countries having participated in the EU-Outreach Programme from the very beginning. First contacts with Croatian authorities were established in 2005 under the SIPRIimplemented Pilot Project 2004 and were later on carried over into the BAFAimplemented projects (Pilot Project 2006, LTP I and LTP II). Over the course of the past eight years, a wide variety of activities touching on all pillars have been organised, including legal seminars, prosecution and investigation workshops, customs and licensing seminars as well as industry outreach events. Throughout the cooperation, the EU-Outreach Programme supported Croatia s goal to update its dual-use export control law and system in order to reflect EU standards. Programme activities have therefore mainly looked to support Croatia in fine-tuning the operational effectiveness of its system in light of having to control exports of goods produced within the European common market once it becomes an EU member state. Next to a wide array of national workshops, seminars and study visits, our cooperation was able to successfully support, among others: The update of the 2004 Act on Export of Dualuse Items (applied as of 1 January 2005); The adoption of penalties as part of the legal revision of July 2008; The introduction of advanced training and qualifications for customs officers on dualuse items by Croatian authorities Next to national events, Croatia has participated very actively in a number of regional seminars and workshops strengthening regional cooperation. The EU programme has been very pleased with the strong commitment of Croatian officials sharing their experiences at a number of licensing and customs regional seminars, thereby In this issue: Accession of Croatia to the European Union p. 1 Export Control Symposium in Georgia p. 2 News from the EU Outreach Programmes, p. 4 Activities Calendar, p. 8 Points of Contact, p. 10 News on export control, p. 11
page 2 enhancing cross-border cooperation and exchange of information. With the accession to the EU, the 2011 Act on Control of Dual-use Items as well as the 2013 Act on Amendments on the Act on Control of Dual-Use Items have entered into force, implementing EU Regulation 428/2009. Another example of Croatia s commitment to adhering to international standards in the past years is the achievement of membership to three international export control regimes, including the Nuclear Suppliers Group since July 2005, the Wassenaar Arrangement since December 2005 and the Australia Group since 2007. During the course of the programme and in preparation for the EU accession, Croatia has enhanced its export control system, thanks to the hard work and commitment of Croatian officials, and the successful cooperation with the EU Programme as well as other longstanding cooperation partners in the region. On the background of this positive cooperation and the enormous amount of expertise gathered during the last years, we look forward to continuing our work with Croatian officials this time as an integral part of the team of EU experts. Export Control Symposium Georgia to present a new draft law on export controls on dual use goods and military equipment During the past four years under the EU Outreach Programme, in joint co-operation with US EXBS program and supported by expertise from a number of EU Member States, Georgia developed a new legislation in the field of strategic trade controls that aligns itself to the UNSCR 1540 requirements as well as to EU standards (for further details please see Newsletter No 40/2012 and No 46/2013). All efforts made by the international donor community and Georgia on this very important path of aligning Georgia to EU and other state-of-the-art trade control systems were presented on 27th of Septem- Source: US Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia
page 3 ber in the framework of an Export Control Symposium organized jointly by the EU Delegation to Georgia and US Embassy. The aim of this event attended by high ranking officials like the Prime Minister Ivanishvili, Minister of Defence Alasania, State Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Petriashvili, Deputy Foreign Minister Beruchashvili, Deputy Minister of Finance Tabuashvili, as well as members of Parliament, the Head of the EU Delegation to Georgia, the US Ambassador, the Polish Ambassador and representative of the German Embassy, was to introduce to the audience the new Georgian draft law on strategic trade controls that at the beginning of October 2013 was submitted to the Parliament for first reading. Prime Minister Ivanishvili noted, It is a great honour for us that draft law of Georgia on control of military and dual products was developed within the EU program with participation of US Export Control and Related Border Security Assistance program, Office of Economics and Export Control of Germany, EU experts and Georgian represent atives. ( ) It is very important for our state that with enactment of present law it will be possible to protect national security via introducing of national control over turnover of military and dual use products, promoting of enhancement of international stability and security according to obligations and principles existing within the UN framework. (Source: website of Government of Georgia; http:// www.government.gov. ge/print.php?gg=1&sec_ i d = 2 9 2 & i n f o _ id=38455&lang_id=eng) During this outreach event, a presentation of the new legislation was held by a representative of the Georgian Ministry of Defence as responsible authority for matters of strategic trade control regulations. A representative of the EU Outreach Programme provided a comparison with European legislation in the field.
News from the EU Outreach Programmes page 4 Long Term Programme Jordan Working Meetings On 7 to 9 October 2013 working meetings with representatives from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan took place in Amman. Representatives of different actors in the field of export control such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Jordanian Customs Authority attended the working meetings. The objective of the meetings was to identify future areas of cooperation in the framework of the EU Outreach Programme. In addition, meetings with representatives of the EU Delegation, the Regional EU CBRN Centres of Excellence (CoE) Secretariat, together with the US Embassy were scheduled. It is expected now, that the Jordanian government will draft proposals and raise issues for a future cooperation in the field of dual use export controls. Georgia Secondary Trade Control Legislation Workshop On 10th of October 2013, a legal workshop on drafting Georgian secondary trade control legislation took place in Tbilisi, Georgia. The workshop was organized jointly by the EU financed Outreach Program and US EXBS. Expertise have been imparted by EU experts from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Sweden. Here as well questions about different control lists as part of the secondary legislation were discussed. The discussions led to the result that Georgia intends to apply consolidated dual use control list (as of Annex I of the EC Dual Use Regulation No 428/2009) (APEC) Conference on Facilitating Trade in a Secure Trading Environment The EU Outreach Programme has been invited to support the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference on Facilitating Trade in a Secure Trading Environment, which is organized by the programme partner Malaysia. Taking place from 28 29 October 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, the conference as specified in the title will focus on the conjunction of facilitating trade and trade security. Malaysia List and ITT workshop Subsequent to the APEC Conference on 30 and 31 October, the EU Programme in cooperation with Malaysia will carry out a two-days workshop. The event - a combination of two workshops - will focus on the one side on working with the Malaysian / EU export control list and on the other side on intangible technology transfer. Montenegro Industry Outreach On 01-02 October 2013, the EU programme supported the Montenegrin Ministry of Economy (MoE) during an industry outreach seminar with the focus on licensing procedures. The overall aim was to strengthen the cooperation between
page 5 Source: Montenegrin Ministry of Economy the authorities and the industry who are involved in the production, import or export of dual-use items and to enter into discussion with the industry regarding the obligations under the Montenegrin law on export control of dual-use items. The industry outreach event was attended by industry representatives, forwarders, the Montenegrin Chamber of Economy, the Delegation of the EU to Montenegro, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US Embassy to Podgorica. An EU outreach programme representative and EU expert from Slovenia supported this event by providing presentations and sharing their experience with the audience. Serbia Interactive Customs Workshop On 30 and 31 October 2013, an interactive workshop with different departments from the Serbian Customs will take place in Belgrade, Serbia. The workshop will build on previous activities in the area of risk management, investigation and company audits and is closely coordinated with the Serbian counterparts. The workshop aims at strengthening dual-use export control enforcement and enhancing intra and interagency cooperation and exchange of infor- mation. EU colleagues from Germany, the Netherlands and Slovenia will support the theoretical framework and facilitate the interactive and practical aspects which form the core of the workshop. EU Outreach in the field of Conventional Arms (COARM) South East Europe Study Visit to Portugal Continuing the series of study visits on arms export controls, a study visit for three partner countries in South Eastern Europe (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia) took place in Lisbon, Portugal, between 22 and 24 October 2013. The study visit was comprised of different sessions addressing a broad range of issues and challenges of arms export controls such as arms export controls from the perspective of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Customs Administration as well as insights into assessment, decision making and licensing processes. A variety of case studies and practical examples supported the presentations held by Portuguese as well as other EU colleagues from Source: Portuguese Ministry of National Defence
page 6 Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic. The study visit concluded with a field visit to a Portuguese company which provided insights into the day to day work related to export controls, internal risk assessments and ex-post controls. We would like to thank all involved parties in particular our Portuguese hosts from the Ministry of National Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority for their huge support and excellent hospitality. Expertise and experience have been imparted by various EU Member States experts like Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Sweden and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Regional Workshop in Tbilisi, Georgia In the framework of the Council Decision 2012/711/CFSP a COARM Regional Workshop on arms export controls took place on 8 and 9 of October in Tbilisi, Georgia. The workshop was dedicated to Eastern European and Caucasian countries of the European Neighborhood Policy (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine). The role of the technical expertise was in the focus of the event and was discussed on both days from various perspectives. On the first day breakout group sessions were used to elaborate issues, like how should the technical expertise be organized and structured, outsourcing of technical expertise (i.e. contracts with other stakeholders universities, laboratories etc.), how can technical expertise be gathered, what should the technical expertise provide, on what should the technical expertise focus, technical plausibility of stated end-use, the second day of the event was dedicated to practical case studies which brought addvalue to the entire event.
page 7 EU CBRN Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence projects CoE Project 5 Initial Visit to Algeria A round table meeting with all relevant Algerian stakeholders took place on the 26 of September in Algier. The meeting which was one of the last initial visits to be conducted under the CoE project n 5 aimed at identifying the country s main fields of interest and at discussing options of adequate training and support on CBRN export/import monitoring the project may provide. Given the important role of effective export and import control systems to reduce CBRN related risks the Algerian representatives underlined the strong interest of the country in participating actively in the project. Next steps: As a result of the discussions during the three visits to Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria a regional workshop focusing on customs control procedures and risk management bringing together experts of all of the three countries will be held in Tunis on the 17th and 18th October. CoE Project 5 Regional Workshop in Tunisia A regional workshop on CBRN risk management and customs control procedures took place in Tunis on 17 & 18 October. Customs experts from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and the EU exchanged best practices on various risk management topics such as the identification of CBRN goods, the different targeting and detection strategies as well as the use and the adaptation of risk indicators. Practical exercises and the exchange on experienced fraud cases completed the theoretical part and led to lively discussion. We thank all experts from North Africa and the EU for their valuable participation and input. A special thanks goes to the Bureau for International Cooperation at the Directorate General of Tunisian Customs for kindly hosting this workshop and for organizing an excellent field visit to the Port of Rades. CoE Project 8 First Visits During the last months the focus of CoE Project No. 8 was the review of the existing CBRN legislation in place in the partner countries Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia and the Philippines. During the first half of November, the first visits to the partner countries are due to introduce and discuss the project in detail and define the next steps. Source: BAFA Source: BAFA
page 8 A newsletter published by the EU Outreach Programmes on export control which are implemented by the Federal Office of Economics Activities Calendar Contract Date Country Activity Contact Point Details September CoE 26 Algeria Initial Visit to Algeria Ms. Ulrike Duechs LTP 27 Georgia Awareness Raising towards Politicans and Parlamentarians Mr. Werner Knapp October LTP 01 02 Montenegro Support to industry outreach Ms. Ivana Micic LTP 07 09 Jordan Working meetings Mr. Werner Knapp COARM 08 09Georgia Regional Workshop on arms export Mr. Werner Knapp controls (dedicated to Eastern European and Caucasian countries of the European Neighborhood Policy) LTP 10 Georgia Legal Workshop on Secondary Legislation Mr. Werner Knapp CoE 17 18North Africa Regional Workshop on CBRN risk management and customs procedures (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia) Ms. Ulrike Duechs COARM 22 24Portugal Study visit for Albania, Bosnia and Mr. Werner Knapp Herzegovina and Serbia to Lisboa, Portugal LTP 28 29SEA EU Experts supporting the APEC Dr. Sibylle Bauer Conference on Facilitating Trade in a Secure Trading Environment (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) LTP 30 31 Serbia Interactive customs workshop Ms. Ivana Micic LTP 30 31 Malaysia List & ITT workshop Dr. Sibylle Bauer
page 9 November CoE 04 05 Philippines CoE 8 - Technical assistance visit Ms. Irina Albrecht CoE 05 06 Lebanon CoE 5 - Initial visit to Lebanon Ms. Irina Albrecht CoE 07 08 Cambodia CoE 8 - Technical assistance visit Ms. Irina Albrecht CoE 11 12 Laos CoE 8 - Technical assistance visit Ms. Irina Albrecht CoE 14 15 Malaysia CoE 8 - Technical assistance visit Ms. Irina Albrecht
Points of contact Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia (presently: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Ukraine) Mr. Werner Knapp, Werner.Knapp@bafa.bund.de, +49 6196 908-652 Gulf Region, Middle East (presently: Jordan, UAE) Mr. Werner Knapp, Werner.Knapp@bafa.bund.de, +49 6196 908-652 South Eastern Europe (presently: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia) Ms. Ivana Micic, Micic@eu-outreach.info, +49 152 228 762 57 North Africa (presently: Morocco, Tunisia) Ms. Eva Werder, Eva.Werder@bafa.bund.de, +49 6196 908-536 China (presently: China) Mr. Reimar Angersbach, Reimar.Angersbach@bafa.bund.de, +49 6196 908-344 South Asia (presently: India, Pakistan) Mr. Holger Beutel, Holger.Beutel@bafa.bund.de, +49 6196 908-712 South East Asia (presently: Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam) Dr. Sibylle Bauer, Bauer@eu-outreach.info, +49 6196 908-995 Centres of Excellence Project n 5 - Knowledge development and transfer of best practice on CBRN import/export monitoring implemented by BAFA in cooperation with SIPRI Ms. Katja Philipp, Katja.Philipp@bafa.bund.de, +49 6196 908-944 Project n 8 Prerequisite to strengthening CBRN national legal frameworks implemented by VERTIC, BAFA and UNODC Ms. Kirsten Soder, Kirsten.Soder@bafa.bund.de, +49 6196 908-995 COARM Mr. Werner Knapp, Werner.Knapp@bafa.bund.de, +49 6196 908-652 Ms. Ruxandra Nastase, Ruxandra.Nastase@bafa.bund.de, +49 6196 908-148 page 10
News on export control page 11 EU Law / Embargo Measures Syria With Council Decision 2013/255/ CFSP of 31 May 2013 (OJ EU No. L 147 of 1.6.2013 p. 14) the Council of the European Union has renewed the restrictive measures of the European Union against Syria until 1 June 2014. The Council Regulation No. 697/2013 of 22 July 2013 amending the Council Regulation (EU) No. 36/2012 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria (OJ L 198 of 23 July 2013 p. 28) implements the requirements of Decision 2013/255/ CFSP. The regulation is directly applicable in Germany. It includes import and export restrictions, restrictions on financing of certain enterprises, restrictions on infrastructure projects, restrictions of financial support for trade, restrictions in financial and transport sectors and restriction on admission. The arms embargo and trade restrictions on goods for internal repression (former Annex I) were not renewed, cf. Art. 1 (1) of the expired Council Decision 2012/739/ CFSP of 29 November 2012. Please note in this connection that the arms embargo against Syria continues to apply on a national basis. An updated non-official consolidated version of Regulation (EU) No. 36/2012 is available at www. ausfuhrkontrolle.info. People s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) As a reaction to a nuclear test, the Security Council of the United Nations adopted the Resolution 2094 (2013) on 7 March 2013 and imposed further sanctions on the People s Democratic Republic of Korea. This Resolution was transposed into European legislation with Council Decision 2013/183/ CFSP of 22 April 2013 (OJ L 111, 23 April 2013 p. 52). The Decision has renewed the existing measures and has given effect to the Resolution 2094 (2013) of the United Nations Security Council. In order to transpose the decision into law directly applicable in all EU Member States the Council adopted the Resolution (EU) No. 696/2013 of 22 July 2013 (OJ L 198 of 23 July 2013 p. 22). This Regulation expands the EU sanctions against the People s Democratic Republic of Korea i. a. by adding a definition of the term brokering services. Furthermore the existing sanctions are differentiated and new restrictions on traffic were included. Tunisia With the Council Regulation (EU) No. 735/2013 of 30 July 2013 implementing the Regulation (EU) No. 101/2011 concerning restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to the situation in Tunisia (OJ L 204 of 31 July 2013 p. 23) the Council amended the list in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No. 101/2011. This list comprises the natural and legal persons, organisations and entities who are subject to the prohibition of supply, and whose funds and economic resources are frozen. The statement of reasons for three entries was revised in the list. Terrorism Al Qaida The Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 731/2013 of 29 July 2013 amending the Council Regulation (EC) No. 881/2002 ( OJ L 203 of 30.7.2013 p. 10) for the 197th time and the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 754/2013 of 5 August 2013 amending the Council Regulation (EU) No. 881/2002 for the 198th time (OJ L 210 of 26 August 2013 p. 24) give effect to the decisions by the United Nations Al- Qaida Sanctions Committee of
page 12 19, 22 and 23 July 2013. The Implementing Regulations order to remove one natural person from Annex I to Regulation (EC) No. 881/2002. In addition four entries related to natural persons were amended and one person was newly added to the list in Annex I. Annex I to Regulation (EC) No. 881/2002 contains persons, groups and entities whose funds and economic resources are frozen and to whom no funds or economic resources shall be made available. Other suspects of terrorism With the Council Regulation (EU) No. 714/2013 of 25 July 2013 implementing Article 2 (3) of Regulation (EC) No. 2580/2001 concerning specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism and repealing the Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2012 (OJ L 201 of 26 July 2013 p. 10), one group was added to the list of persons, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC) 2580/2001 applies. For further information or general questions on activities regarding cooperation in export control of dual-use goods or countries please contact Ms. Irina Albrecht: Irina.Albrecht@bafa.bund.de or visit www.eu-outreach.info. For editorial questions concerning the newsletter, please contact Ms. Angelika Pfafferodt: Angelika.Pfafferodt@bafa.bund.de. BAFA, October 2013 Georg Pietsch, Director General, Project Team Leader Federal Office of Economics Email: Sabrina.Kuehl@bafa.bund.de Phone: +49 6196 908-369 BAFA Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged.