BIS Drafting License Exception for Medical Devices to Russia

The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on a new license exception to authorize certain exports of medical devices to Russia, a Commerce Department official said.

The official, speaking on background March 28 under a policy for certain career personnel at the BIS annual Update Conference, said that license exception is “in the works.” The agency has been considering issuing an exception since at least last year, but it has been “very hard for us to figure out how to calibrate it,” the official said, including what types of exports it would cover.

BIS wants to authorize certain medical-related exports to the Russian people, but it doesn’t want to approve medical items that could help Russia’s war effort against Ukraine, the official said. “This is a challenging area, because frankly, we don't want to do things that might support the Russian military, including the treatment of soldiers.” the official said.

“Where that right line is, that’s challenging,” the official said. “But now we've seen a lot of license applications and concrete scenarios that enabled us to think about how we craft a license exception.”