In its various fields of activity, Paderborn University acts not only on a national but also on an international level. For example, it maintains international cooperations, educates foreign students, receives international guest researchers and partly covers its demand for supplies and services on the international market.
Within the scope of its fields of activity, Paderborn University thus participates in foreign trade, which, although basically free, is restricted by state intervention in order to protect the international community from human rights violations, proliferation and terrorism.
These restrictions, summarised under the term export control, are anchored both in national law (Foreign Trade and Payments Act - Außenwirtschaftsgesetz (AWG) in conjunction with the Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance - Außenwirtschaftsverordnung (AWV)) and in EU Union law (e.g. Dual-Use Regulation (VO (EU) 2021/821)). At the international level, US (re-) export law with its extraterritorial claim to validity must also be observed.
The common goal of these regulations is to prevent security from being threatened by weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons and to prevent sensitive goods as well as sensitive knowledge and skills from entering crisis areas.
Paderborn University, like all companies, universities, etc., is obliged to comply with these regulations. Neither the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of science nor a civil clause exempts us from this obligation. The aim of export controls is not to restrict research or censor its results, but solely to prevent their misuse.
Violations of the aforementioned national and European regulations can lead to serious reputational damage for UPB and the persons/institutes involved, and in extreme cases can result in fines or imprisonment for persons involved.
The following questions will help you to assess whether the provisions of foreign trade and payments law need to be taken into account in your project and whether any associated prohibitions or licensing requirements need to be observed:In its various fields of activity, Paderborn University acts not only on a national but also on an international level. For example, it maintains international cooperations, educates foreign students, receives international guest researchers and partly covers its demand for supplies and services on the international market.
Within the scope of its fields of activity, Paderborn University thus participates in foreign trade, which, although basically free, is restricted by state intervention in order to protect the international community from human rights violations, proliferation and terrorism.
These restrictions, summarised under the term export control, are anchored both in national law (Foreign Trade and Payments Act - Außenwirtschaftsgesetz (AWG) in conjunction with the Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance - Außenwirtschaftsverordnung (AWV)) and in EU Union law (e.g. Dual-Use Regulation (VO (EU) 2021/821)). At the international level, US (re-) export law with its extraterritorial claim to validity must also be observed.
The common goal of these regulations is to prevent security from being threatened by weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons and to prevent sensitive goods as well as sensitive knowledge and skills from entering crisis areas.
Paderborn University, like all companies, universities, etc., is obliged to comply with these regulations. Neither the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of science nor a civil clause exempts us from this obligation. The aim of export controls is not to restrict research or censor its results, but solely to prevent their misuse.
Violations of the aforementioned national and European regulations can lead to serious reputational damage for UPB and the persons/institutes involved, and in extreme cases can result in fines or imprisonment for persons involved.
The following questions will help you to assess whether the provisions of foreign trade and payments law need to be taken into account in your project and whether any associated prohibitions or licensing requirements need to be observed:
Who?
The first step is to check whether there are any personal embargoes against the person or organisation involved in your project; the content and scope of the respective sanctions are summarised in national and international sanctions lists. An entry in one of these lists has far-reaching consequences for the person or organisation in question. The freezing of all their funds and economic resources effectively results in a deprivation of assets.
As a result, all economic operators are prohibited from directly or indirectly making money or economic resources available to the listed persons or organisations. Economic resources are assets of any kind, regardless of whether they are tangible or intangible and movable or immovable, which do not themselves represent money but can be used to acquire money, goods or services.
What are they?
If there are no personal embargoes, the next step in the case of an intended transfer or export of goods (the term includes goods, software and technology) to a third country is to assess whether the goods in question are categorised as particularly sensitive in foreign trade. This is the case for dual-use goods (goods that can be used for both civilian and military purposes) and for defence goods, weapons and ammunition. The goods concerned are listed and defined in the national export list (Annex to the Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance) and the European list of goods (Annex I to the EC Dual Use Regulation). In addition to goods, these lists also include software and technology.
When making your assessment, please note in particular that the provision of technology in embodied and also in unembodied form (transfer by telephone, email or provision of data in a cloud) may also constitute an export.
In addition to the export of such sensitive goods, the provision of certain services known as "technical assistance" (e.g. in connection with a military end-use or nuclear facilities) is also subject to export restrictions.
Technical assistance is any technical assistance in connection with the repair, development, manufacture, assembly, testing, maintenance or any other technical service. Technical assistance can take the form of instruction, training, transfer of practical knowledge or skills or in the form of consultancy services. It also includes oral, telephone and electronic forms of assistance.
The intended export of sensitive goods and also technical assistance in certain fields regularly requires prior contact with the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control due to the goods-related authorisation and information obligations.
For an initial assessment of whether a good (goods, software, technology) that is to be exported or for which technical assistance is to be provided is subject to restrictions, a customs tool can be used: https: //auskunft.ezt-online.de/ - the website https://www.zolltarifnummern.de/ can be used to determine the commodity code required for this.
If in doubt, you can always contact the Export Control Officer.
Where to?
The next step is to analyse the country involved in your project with regard to possible embargoes. Foreign trade with certain countries may be restricted or prohibited. Such country-specific restrictions may also affect persons residing in Germany if they are nationals or residents of such a country.
A distinction is made between total embargoes (generally a complete ban on foreign trade), partial embargoes (restrictions on certain goods and services, always individualised) and arms embargoes (bans on the sale, export, import and transit of military equipment and related services).
An overview of the current country embargoes including the underlying legal acts can be found here: www.sanctionsmap.eu
Further information on the subject of embargoes can be found on the BAFA website: https: //www.bafa.de/DE/Aussenwirtschaft/Ausfuhrkontrolle/Embargos/embargos_node.html
What for?
Finally, the actual intended use of the goods to be exported must be assessed.
This is because the export of a good that is not included in the list of goods or export list also entails use-related authorisation requirements if it is associated with a sensitive use ("catch-all provision"). This is the case, for example, for chemical, biological nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices and missiles, for general military use, nuclear purposes or nuclear use.
An authorisation requirement presupposes that you yourself either have knowledge of the sensitive use or have been informed of this by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control.
It should be noted that there is no obligation to investigate. However, if you become aware of the planned sensitive use or if this is obvious from the circumstances, please contact the Export Control Officer.
