2022 Exceptional Update of the EU Control List of Dual-Use Items

On 23 February 2023, the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation updating the EU dual-use export control list in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2021/821, in order to bring it in line with the decisions taken in the Australia Group – the multilateral export control regime in charge of preventing the proliferation of chemical and biological items – in 2022.

This update adds some emerging technologies in the biological sector to the EU Dual-Use List. In particular, the updated EU control list includes four new entries for marine toxins, namely brevetoxins, gonyautoxins, nodularins and palytoxin, which are naturally present in marine environments but can also be synthesised and used for biological weapons, for example. Other changes were mostly on removal and changes of references, and editorial changes.

The update of the EU Control List was coordinated with US’ measures introducing the same controls for these emerging technologies through the Export Control Working Group of the Trade and Technology Council.

Subject to the Council and the European Parliament raising no objections within a period of two months, the Commission Delegated Regulation (Ref. C(2023)1164) will be published and will enter into force on the day following that of its publication.

More information

The 'Comprehensive Change Note Summary – exceptional update 2022' provides a detailed overview of all changes compared to the 2022 EU Dual-Use Control List across all 10 categories