When hiring employees from abroad, difficult legal issues can sometimes arise if they have access to listed EU or US technology. Attorney PD Dr. Harald Hohmann has written an article on this topic, which can be read in the current issue of the magazine “Exportmanager”.

In the following, we would like to give you a brief summary.

Hohmann starts from a case study in which an employee with Iranian citizenship in a German company (in Germany) has access to technology from defense equipment and US aircraft manufacturers. Whether BAFA or BIS (Bureau of Industry and Security) approval is required in this case depends heavily on whether U.S. or German-European export law applies.

Under European export law, the transfer of knowledge to the Iranian employee and the access rights to the technology in question do not constitute an export to Iran. It is merely technical support. The situation is different under American export law. There, the case would be classified as a “deemed re-export” – the export of listed technology to a foreign state.

Hohmann goes on to explain how specifically the case would look under U.S. export law for re-export and under European export law. He also sets out how the case would be assessed if it were not an Iranian national but a person with Russian, French or Cypriot citizenship.

In short: When is a BAFA approval necessary?

As a guideline, it can be said that according to German-European export law, no BAFA approval is required for technical assistance to a foreigner, provided the person is an EU citizen or a person from an EU001 country. For all other foreigners, a permit is required unless the person has a permanent right of residence in Germany. A permit is also required, for example, if it is a person from an EU arms embargo country.

You can read the entire article by attorney Hohmann in the magazine Exportmanager online.

Source: exportmanager-online.de