Canada Continues Suspension of Military Export Permits to Turkey Indefinitely

Source: Canada US
Link: Canada Continues Suspension of Military Export Permits to Turkey Indefinitely

On April 16, 2020, the Government of Canada issued Notice to Exporters Serial 992 “Notice to Exporters – Export of items listed on the Export Control List to Turkey” in which Canada announced that it will presumptively deny any new export permit application with respect to military goods on the Export Control List where the destination is Turkey.  On October 19, 2019, the Government of Canada announced a temporary suspension in the issuance of export permits to Turkey due to Turkey’s incursion into Syria.  This temporary suspension is now indefinite (“until further notice”).

While Canadian exporters may continue to submit applications for export permits for miliary goods and those export permit applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has indicated that the applications will be presumptively denied.  This means that the Minister will not sign off on any export permit for military controlled goods when the destination is Turkey.

While there is a possibility that an export permit will be approved, the new requirement in the Export and Import Permits Act limits the Minister’s ability to issue an export permit in respect of arms, ammunition, implements or munitions of war if, after considering available mitigating measures, he or she determines that there is a substantial risk that the export or the brokering of the goods or technology specified in the application for the permit would result in certain negative consequences.  The negative consequences that the Minister must consider are whether the goods or technology specified in the application for the permit

(a) would contribute to peace and security or undermine it; and

(b) could be used to commit or facilitate

(i) a serious violation of international humanitarian law,

(ii) a serious violation of international human rights law,

(iii) an act constituting an offence under international conventions or protocols relating to terrorism to which Canada is a party,

iv) an act constituting an offence under international conventions or protocols relating to transnational organized crime to which Canada is a party, or

(v) serious acts of gender-based violence or serious acts of violence against women and children.

Given the incursion into Syria, these criteria are presumptively satisfied.

That being said, it has been reported that Charles-Marie Matte, the deputy director of the export controls division at Canada’s Global Affairs stated that there are “exceptional circumstances” where the ban may not apply, including the export of components for any “Nato missile defence system”.

For more information about Canada’s export controls laws, please contact Cyndee Todgham Cherniak at 416-307-4168 or at cyndee@lexsage.com.  We have posted a number of articles of export controls on the LexSage website.