20th Amendment to the Foreign Trade and payments Regulation: What’s New?

On 4 October 2023, the Twentieth Regulation to Amend the Foreign Trade and Payments Regulation (Verordnung zur Änderung der Außenwirtschaftsverordnung) was published in the German Federal Gazette.

Digitalisation

The amendments make it possible for administrative acts under the Foreign Trade and Payments Regulation (Außenwritschaftsverordnung, AWV) to be issued in electronic form. Applications, notifications, information, files, reports, and other documents will also be able to be submitted via an administrative portal.

The amendments bring the AWV into line with the Act to Promote Electronic Administration and Improve Online Access to Administrative Services (Gesetze zur Förderung der elektronischen Verwaltung und zur Verbesserung des Onlinezugangs zu Verwaltungsdienstleistungen).

All documents required for the investment review under §§ 14a, 15 and 23 of the AWV (including documents on the acquisition of a domestic company and information for the Central Customs Office, the German Federal Bank, or the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA)) should be submitted via the administrative portal. While the electronic procedure is preferred, in limited cases it will still be possible to submit documents in conventional paper form.

Remember the pitfalls: uploading information or an application into the administrative portal will not trigger the prescribed periods (initiation) under § 14a of the AWG; instead, the point of time specified in § 3 (4) of the AWV (new version) will apply.

Accordingly, information or an application submitted via the administrative portal will only be considered submitted once the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) has imported the submitted documents in entirety and without any issues from the administrative portal to the Ministry’s IT system. Once this has occurred, the Ministry will confirm the submission of the documents and inform the purchaser if the documents are incomplete or corrupted, where possible.

The suspension of time periods under § 14a (6) of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act (AWG) is also tied to the import of the relevant documents.

Arms control

The Amendment also introduces new restrictive measures against states like Russia, Somalia and Haiti, bringing the AWV into line with various resolutions of the Council of the European Union (CFSP).

The amended Regulation also included the agreed 2022 amendments to the Wassenaar Arrangement for Conventional Arms. The list of military goods of the European Union previously included these changes.

New authorisation requirements for PMI rigid foam technologies

A further amendment introduces an authorisation requirement for the export of development and production technologies for polymethacrylimide (PMI) rigid foam. This introduction supplements Annex I of the Dual Use Regulation. The characteristics of the PMI rigid foam mean it can be used in modern military applications, particularly in the aerospace industry, which justifies the authorisation requirement. According to the draft bill, the Federal Government is going to work to ensure that these technologies are included in the Wassenaar Arrangement for Conventional Arms in order to create a level playing field for all companies affected.

Summary and outlook

The new 20th Regulation Amending the Foreign Trade and Payments Regulation simplifies the administrative procedures in foreign trade through digital procedures. In the future, a new administrative portal will allow all documents to be submitted online. The amendments also introduce the possibility for administrative acts to be enacted electronically in the future.

Dr Christian von Wistinghausen
Prof. Dr Rainer Bierwagen