Five Eyes Partners Agree to Formalize Cooperation on Export Control Enforcement

In a collaborative endeavor to enhance global security, the United States and its Five Eye partners – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom –committed Wednesday to formally coordinate on export control enforcement.

This effort builds on existing information sharing and other cooperation among these key partners and will leverage enforcement resources to expand each country’s capacity to take action to prevent and deter evasion of export controls, including by restricting Russia’s access to technologies that fuel its invasion of Ukraine.

“As is evidenced by today’s gathering, the United States and our Five Eyes partners stand united in our commitment to vigorous enforcement of the Russia and Belarus export restrictions,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod.  “By formalizing our coordination, we hope to drive additional enforcement outcomes in each of the Five Eyes countries, including detentions, penalties, and public identification of diversionary actors.”

Delegations from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States met in Ottawa, Canada this week and jointly committed to facilitating the exchange of information related to export control violations, including trends in illicit procurement methods, which will enable Five Eyes countries to identify and address export evasion risks and enhance their ability to prevent unauthorized transfers and safeguard collective national security interests.

Specifically, this formal partnership on export control enforcement will significantly enhance the effectiveness of each country’s export control regimes, minimize gaps in enforcement, and foster joint investigations and coordinated enforcement actions.

The countries also seek to strengthen enforcement partnerships with industry, as a key component to countering diversion efforts.   The Commerce Department statement avoided metion of controls on China Trade.

The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[1] These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.

Politicians from the Five Eyes alliance are meeting this week in the New Zealand capital, Wellington, where migration and security are top of the agenda.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has been in China this week on an official visit. Tuesday, he met Chinese President Xi Jinping. Both leaders acknowledged the importance of the bilateral relationship.   The Export Control announcement may deflect criticism of Wellington's conciliatory tone to China, which buys one-fourth of the country's exports.