The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (“MOTIE”) announced proposal to partially amend the Public Notice on Trade of Strategic Items (“Proposed Public Notice”) on February 24, 2023. The amendments expand the current export control measures against Russia and Belarus. The Proposed Public Notice is subject to public comment until March 13, 2023.
It has been about 11 months since MOTIE first implemented export controls against Russia and Belarus on March 25, 2022, by adding 57 categories of goods to Annex 2-2 (Items Subject to Situational License) of the Public Notice for situational license.1 The 57 categories mainly belong to the following technology areas: electronics and semiconductor; computers, telecommunications; information security; sensors and lasers; navigation and avionics; marine; and aerospace and propulsion.
According to the proposed amendments, an additional 741 categories will be subject to situational license requirements for export to Russia and Belarus. The main technology areas of the 741 categories include industrial machinery, petroleum gas refining equipment, steel·chemicals, automobiles, and quantum computers. We have attached Annex 2-2 providing an updated list of categories (with English description) on pages 10 to 171 for exports to Russia and Belarus (ATTACHMENT - [Annex 2-2] Update list of categories). Exemplary categories proposed to be added to Annex 2-2 are provided in the below table:
|
Category Description |
No. in Annex 2-2 |
|
Pipe, container, pump, electrostatic precipitator, etc. |
58 to 113 |
|
Jewels, yachts, motor vehicles valued exceeding $50,000, chassis, etc. |
114 to 176 |
|
Heat exchangers, industrial robots, bearings, values, metals, textile, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, industrial software, machine tools, engine and motor, electric motors, generators, automotive air conditioners, optical fibers, transmission apparatus for radio telephony, semiconductor devices, memories, motor vehicles for transport of goods, air conditioners, etc. |
177 to 661 |
|
Chemicals, pump, valve, reactors, etc. |
662 to 774 |
|
Quantum computers, assemblies, components, vacuum equipment, microscopes, etc. |
775 to 785 |
|
Diodes, semiconductor devices, transistor, memories, other integrated circuits, etc. |
786 to 798 |
The current Public Notice reflects only the initial export control measures, which went into effect on February 24, 2022 from the U.S. against Russia and Belarus. The Proposed Public Notice incorporates substantial portions of the export control measures by the U.S. (up to the export control measures of September 16, 2022) and the EU. If the Proposed Public Notice goes into effect, Korea will be imposing a similar level of export controls on Russia and Belarus as other major countries in the world, including the U.S., the EU, and Japan.
Companies engaged in transactions with goods belonging to the 741 categories need to carefully review whether the goods to be exported to Russia and Belarus will be subject to the newly updated export control regulations.
1 Situational license is a license required for goods, to be exported to a specific country, that are not a strategic item under the Foreign Trade Act, but are likely to be used as a weapon (see Article 19(3) of the Foreign Trade Act).
