Wassenaar Posts Export Control Changes From 2023 Plenary, Updates Guidance

The multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement this month posted a summary of export control changes made during the group’s Nov. 30 plenary meeting, covering editorial changes, clarifications and updated control parameters for various categories under its list of dual-use goods and technologies. Wassenaar’s plenary chair said member states adopted new controls involving equipment used to make certain electronic components, updated existing controls for “high-performance electronic equipment,” and clarified language surrounding sonar technology, optical sensors, rocket propulsion technologies, encryption and decryption technologies, and communication interception technologies, among other updates.

The group also updated a document that outlines best practices for controlling conventional arms transfers and a list of questions companies should ask themselves and their customers before engaging in an export. The guidance said companies should ask whether the customer has “requested any unusual customisation of a standard product” that may raise concerns about its end use, whether the customer is “calling in intermediaries for no good reason,” whether the shipping route is unusual and more.