Foreign trade criminal law

The great importance of foreign trade criminal law in Germany follows from the country’s strong export sector. As a rule, anyone who exports goods or provides services to a customer outside Europe is subject to a strict regulatory regime,

with the fact that international, European and national laws and regulations change often and rapidly making this a particularly sensitive issue. For instance, political and military changes can turn the export of goods to a specific region that was politically desirable just a few weeks earlier – and may have even been encouraged by way of guarantees furnished by public-sector banks – into a criminal offence under the German Foreign Trade Act.
Exporters of so-called dual-use goods are exposed to a particularly high level of risk under criminal law.