On Thursday 23 November, the 'international trade' committee of the European Parliament adopted, by 34 votes to 1 with 2 abstentions, its proposed mandate prepared by Germany's Klaus Buchner (Greens/EFA) to negotiate with the Council on the plan put forward by the Commission in September 2016 (see EUROPE 11634) to bring the Community regime for the control of exports of dual-use goods into line with new risks related to new technologies.
As well as their peaceful applications, dual-use goods and technologies can be used abusively for the purposes of repression, the creation of weapons of mass destruction or terrorism. The key element of the update of the Community regime is the addition of a human security dimension, aiming to prevent breaches of human rights in authoritarian countries related to cyber-surveillance technologies.
In the draft mandate, the MEPs support the addition to the list of goods subject to the approval of the national authorities before being exported of certain cyber-surveillance tools that are widely used by authoritarian regimes to repress the political opposition and civilian population - devices for intercepting mobile phones or hacking computers, circumventing passwords or identifying Internet users.
However, they voted to remove encryption technologies from the list, as they consider these vital for the self-defence of human rights defenders.
To reinforce the human rights protection dimension and the capacity of the control regime to adapt to new technologies, the MEPs propose: - including specific definitions and criteria concerning the reinforcement of the protection of privacy and data, as well as the freedom of assembly; - submitting exporters of unlisted products that could be used for the purposes of spying and repression to a duty of diligence in line with the OECD guidelines, to ensure that their goods do not end up in the wrong hands; - including provisions guaranteeing the rapid inclusion of new risks and technologies.
The MEPs also call upon the Commission to publish a memo before the new regulation enters into force, telling EU companies exactly what they can and cannot do.
They also introduce provisions aiming to ensure a fair situation between member states (similar penalties for non-compliance with the rules, greater transparency of decisions by the national authorities on export control).
Parliament as a whole will confirm its negotiation mandate at the December plenary session in Strasbourg, ahead of trialogue negotiations with the Council of the EU once it has reached its negotiating position. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)