On 2021-04-09
Cybersecurity

What is Export Control?

Ship on the ocean

Are you sure that you are authorised to sell your products to foreign companies and to domestic ones established in foreign countries? Have you checked whether all the components and subsystems of your product can be exported ? Are you certain that you are allowed to share technical information with your foreign interlocutor ? Having these doubts could have heavy consequences both on people and organizations with regards to Export Control regulations non-compliance.

Summary

Since the early Middle Ages, technological knowledge has been a major strategic and economic issue for a State. This is the reason why governments have adopted rules and principles to regulate the circulation of information and technologies considered strategic from a geopolitics standpoint.

So what is export control?

Export control is the set of national and international regulations and laws that govern the strategic export of items that can be both tangible (technical component) or intangible (technical data).

What are export controlled items?

Two categories of controlled items

There are two categories of controlled items: military items which are those goods specifically designed or modified for military use and dual-use items that can be used for both civil and military applications.

These regulations define the way in which businesses are allowed, or not, to export controlled items. Sometimes exports towards embargoed countries or to blacklisted people and companies are forbidden. Sometimes businesses have to get licenses granted by national authorities before exporting or sharing technical information.

Each State has its own export control legal framework often based on international conventions. For EU businesses, they have to be compliant with EU regulations and national laws.

What are export control regulations?

One of the specificities of the Export Control rules is the extraterritorial jurisdictions of regulation especially regarding US regulations. It means that businesses have to ensure compliance of national, EU but also US regulations in some cases. This extraterritorial effect remains an efficient economic weapon.

Export Control non-compliance entails heavy penalties including both criminal and financial sanctions as well as a potential loss of export authorization and being blacklisted by the authorities.

This is the reason why EU companies have to adopt Export Control governance practices that implements the identification, classification and marking of controlled items and management of licenses in order to ensure business continuity and durability.

Now, are you sure to be compliant? 

  • Share

More on Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity in industrial and manufacturing environments: Understanding the fundamentals Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity in industrial and manufacturing environments: understanding the fundamentals

Introduction to OT Security Source: CEA list from DIMS event, 16th May 2024   You've probably heard of Industry 4.0 – the ongoing automation of manufacturing and industrial practices using modern technology. More industries are embracing this approach by incorporating IoT, cloud, AI and cyber-physical systems into their production chain. The resulting connectivity boosts productivity [...] Read more
The naked truth about securing the cloud. Cybersecurity

The naked truth about securing the cloud

Now that every company is using the cloud, whether it be full cloud, hybrid, or SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), they often worry about being secure and sure that they master their flows and data. You can say that this should have been their concern from the very beginning and maybe before but, as often the way, it [...] Read more
MQTT Hidden talks Cybersecurity

Whispers of the Machines: Exposing MQTT Hidden Talks

Why does IoT need to be secure? With over 15 billion IoT (Internet of Things) devices interconnected worldwide, machines can now ‘talk’ to each other seamlessly. This is enabled by protocols like Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), which orchestrate our smart homes, cities and critical infrastructure. The extensive use of MQTT, a lightweight machine-to-machine protocol [...] Read more