The Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) is a superior federal authority subordinated to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).

It is entrusted with important administrative tasks of the federal government in the following sectors

• Foreign Trade
• Promotion of Economic Development
• Energy.

A central task of BAFA in the foreign trade sector is export control. Being involved in the export control policy of the federal government, BAFA is a licensing authority working in close co-operation with other federal agencies on a complex export control system. Within the framework of international and legal commitments, export controls are oriented towards the security need and foreign political interests of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Another relevant task of BAFA in the area of foreign trade is to implement the import regulations adopted as part of the European Union’s common trade policy.

The promotion of economic development focuses on programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises.

In the energy sector BAFA implements measures to promote a better use of renewable energies, the saving of energy, for the maintenance and extension of the power-heat-linkup and for German coal mining, and participates in crisis-contingency measures in the mineral oil sector.