Backgrounder: Amendment to A Guide to Canada's Export Control List
Incorporating international commitments made until January 2026
On this page
- Update 2026
- Summary of key changes made to A Guide to Canada's Export Control List (January 2026)
- Process streamlining
- Understanding the Export Control List (ECL)
- Contact us
Update 2026
On March 31, 2026, the Government of Canada finalized the latest version of A Guide to Canada’s Export Control list (the guide). The new version of the guide will bring into force the commitments Canada has made in the various multilateral export control regimes up to January 1, 2026.
The current May 2025 version of the guide remains in effect until April 30, 2026. Registered users of the New Export Controls On-Line (New EXCOL) electronic permitting system will receive a message with a link to the new guide on March 31, 2026. They will receive a follow-up message on April 30, 2026 to advise that the January 2026 version of the guide will enter into force the following day. This will provide New EXCOL users with 30 days to become familiar with the updated guide.
A summary of key changes made to the January 2026 can be found below. Exporters who want to review a document tracking the individual changes made to the guide or who have any questions regarding this amendment should contact the Export Controls Policy Division at expctrlpol@international.gc.ca.
Summary of key changes made to A Guide to Canada's Export Control List (January 2026)
Please note that this is a high-level summary of some of the more significant changes that appear in the January 2026 edition of A Guide to Canada's Export Control List (the guide). Various other minor changes to the control texts were agreed upon during the relevant export control and non-proliferation regime meetings in 2025, though the majority of these clarifications did not affect the scope of the existing controls.
Exporters who would like to review specific changes that were made to the guide should e-mail the Export Controls Policy Division at expctrlpol@international.gc.ca and request a PDF document that tracks all the changes that were made against the last version.
Additions
1-6.A.5.a.6.a.3 – Certain single transverse mode non-tunable continuous wave lasers.
4-4.A.3 – Certain helium turboexpanders.
7-4.1.yy – 1,1,3,3-Tetraethylguanidine.
Deletions
1-3.A.1.a.5.a.1 - Analogue-to-digital converters with a resolution of 8 bits or more but less than 10 bits.
1-3.A.1.a.14 – Certain integrated circuits that perform analogue to digital conversions with a resolution of 8 bits or more but less than 10 bits.
1-3.A.2.h.1.a – Certain electronic assemblies that perform analogue to digital conversions with a resolution of 8 bits or more but less than 10 bits.
1-6.A.2.d.3 – Certain optical fibre Bragg gratings specially designed for thermal sensing.
1-6.A.5.a.6.a.1 - Certain single transverse mode non-tunable continuous wave lasers.
1-6.A.5.a.6.b - Certain multiple transverse mode non-tunable continuous wave lasers.
1-6.A.5.c.3 – Certain tunable lasers.
1-8.A.2.d – Underwater vision systems.
1-8.A.2.g – Light systems specially designed or modified for underwater use.
Process streamlining
To increase the efficiency of the process to implement annual updates to the multilateral export control lists in Canada, the June 3, 2021 amendment to the Export Control List (ECL) incorporated the guide into the ECL regulation "as amended from time to time". Starting in 2021, any changes to the guide that are made to align it with existing multilateral export control regimes will enter into force 30-days after its publication by Global Affairs Canada, without the need for an amendment to the regulation. Any update that is made for any other reason, including the development of unilateral controls, would still require a regulatory amendment.
As indicated in 2021, this amendment has not changed the process by which Canada negotiates and agrees to changes in the common control lists of the consensus-based regimes. Exporters who may be affected by changes to the multilateral lists will continue to be consulted prior to any regime negotiations to ensure that their views are taken into consideration. The Export Controls Policy Division welcomes feedback from industry about the controls. This includes suggestions for improvements to the controls to ensure that the goals of Canada's export controls – such as protecting national security and preventing Canadian exports from being used in the commission of human rights violations – are met, without negatively affecting legitimate trade.
Canada's robust risk assessment framework for the review of export permit applications has not changed as a result of this amendment.
Understanding the Export Control List (ECL)
The goods and technology controlled for export are mainly determined through commitments made with international partners in the various multilateral export control and non-proliferation regimes. The four regimes are:
With the exceptions of Groups 5 and 9 that are spelled out directly in the schedule of the regulation, the ECL itself does not contain the lists of items controlled for export. Rather, these are described in the guide which contains the technical specifications of the controlled items and is incorporated by reference in the regulation. The ECL also incorporates by reference the control lists as published by the regimes listed above.
It should also be noted that to allow for the guide to be incorporated "as amended from time to time", changes to the schedule of the regulation were required to accommodate long-standing, uniquely Canadian, practises in the implementation of controls on firearms (to reflect Canadian legal definitions) and certain nuclear materials. These changes to the regulation do not change the scope of the pre-existing export controls over these items.
The following table provides a breakdown of the structure of the ECL and the specific regime commitments incorporated in the guide.
The Export Control List
| ECL Group | Items controlled | Regime Commitments | Regime list |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | Dual-use items: goods and technology originally designed for civilian purposes, but that could have a military use or be used to produce military items. | Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) | Wassenaar Arrangement Lists 2025 (PDF) |
| Group 2 | Military items: designed or modified for military purposes. Includes parts and components of military items. | Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) | Wassenaar Arrangement Munitions List 2025 (PDF) |
| Group 3 | Nuclear items: are nuclear-specific and exported for peaceful purposes but could be used in nuclear explosive activity or in a non-safeguarded nuclear fuel cycle activity. | Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) | INFCIRC/254/Part 1 2023 |
| Group 4 | Nuclear dual-use items: used in non-nuclear applications but that could also be used in a nuclear explosive activity or a non-safeguarded nuclear fuel cycle activity. | Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) | INFCIRC/254/Part 2 2025 |
| Group 5 | Miscellaneous controls: contains non-strategic controls on certain goods for reasons of economic policy, such as forest, agricultural and food products. Group 5 contains some strategic controls over U.S.-origin goods, land mines, laser weapons and nuclear fusion reactors, space-related equipment, and items that pose a risk of weapons of mass destruction proliferation, among others. | N/A | N/A |
| Group 6 | Missile technology: missiles, complete rocket systems, and unmanned air vehicles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction. | Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) | MTCR Technical Annex 2024 (PDF) |
| Group 7 | Chemical and biological items: chemical substances, biological agents and related items that could be used in the production of chemical and biological weapons. | Australia Group (AG) & Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons | Australia Group Lists
Chemical Weapons Convention |
| Group 8 | Not in force: formerly controlled illicit drugs but these controls have since been removed from the ECL. | N/A | N/A |
| Group 9 | Conventional arms: full-system conventional arms that fall under the scope of the ATT for reporting purposes (i.e. battle tanks; combat vehicles; artillery systems; combat aircraft; attack helicopters; warships; missiles and missile launchers; and small arms and light weapons). Group 9 is a subset of Group 2. | Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) | Exact control text developed by Global Affairs Canada based on technical descriptions of conventional arms found in both the UN Registrar on Conventional Arms and Appendix 3 of the Wassenaar Initial Elements. |
Contact us
Export Controls Policy Division
Global Affairs Canada
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, ON K1A 0G2
Tel: 343-203-4331
Fax: 613-996-9933
E-mail: expctrlpol@international.gc.ca
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