By Karen Freifeld, Toby Sterling and Alexandra Alper
(Reuters) -The Dutch government told Parliament on Wednesday that it plans to draft additional rules restricting exports of semiconductor technology to protect national security, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The planned rules are one of the first official signs the Dutch are moving forward in response to pressure from the U.S. to place curbs on the technology it sends to China.
The move follows months of discussions between the Netherlands, the U.S. and Japan, in which Washington has tried to get allies to adopt similar restrictions to those it introduced in October aimed at hobbling China’s ability to make semiconductors and to slow its military advances.
While officials said a high-level agreement between countries was reached in January, the Dutch government said it would not simply adopt U.S. rules and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it was uncertain whether new rules would ever be “visible.”
The policy statement, which will be released once Dutch Parliament has been informed, is not expected to contain technical details of what equipment will be restricted, nor will it name China, an important Dutch trading partner, one source said.
Netherlands Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher is expected to explain in interviews the new rules will ultimately make it possible to restrict the export of some advanced lithography tools made by ASML Holding NV, a key supplier to semiconductor manufacturers and Europe’s largest technology firm.
(Reporting by Toby SterlingEditing by Mark Potter and Anna Driver)
