Legal and compliance roles in European defence deal with a regulatory environment that has few equivalents in civilian industry. Export controls are the starting point. The EU Dual-Use Regulation, national control lists and US ITAR/EAR rules (which apply to any product containing US-origin components) create overlapping obligations that vary by product, destination and end user. Legal teams typically manage export licence applications, classify products against control lists and train engineering staff on what they can and cannot share with foreign nationals, including colleagues in their own office.
