After three years of talks, the Member States' ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper) finally adopted, on Wednesday 5 June, the EU Council's negotiating position on the modernisation of the EU's dual-use items regime. By removing cybersurveillance from the list of goods, they have greatly limited its scope.
In September 2016, the Commission worked on recasting the existing Regulation into a stricter and more modern Community regime. As a result, tighter controls on the export of dual-use items should ensure that they respect human rights and international humanitarian law.
A key element of this update is the extension of the scope of control over the export of dual-use items, opening their definition to include cybersurveillance technologies (see EUROPE 11634/15).
In January 2017, the European Parliament adopted its position, which supported this addition along with other provisions, further consolidating the human security aspects (see EUROPE 11911/10).
In the EU Council, however, the proposal will have a more chaotic route to navigate. Some States, led by Germany, supported a broader definition of dual-use items, while others, including France, feared that this provision would affect the competitiveness of European industry, according to sources close to the EU Council.
If, after three years of deadlock, Member States have finally succeeded in defining their common position, it is by removing cybersurveillance from the list of dual-use items subject to the approval of national authorities before being exported. These products are now classified as “non listed dual-use items”, and “it is appropriate to control the export of those items”.
However, under the current Regulation, this reference allowed Member States to implement more ambitious control measures if they so wished, a source in the EU Council pointed out.
While the amendments proposed by the EU Council also allow Member States more flexibility in the implementation of the provisions, they also allow for further harmonisation of licensing procedures through new general export authorisations to countries meeting the criteria (or ‘EU GEA’) and monitoring of the provision of technical assistance for ‘sensitive’ elements.
On the basis of this mandate, the EU Council Presidency will start inter-institutional negotiations - which promise to be difficult - with the European Parliament, which may be represented by the re-elected German rapporteur, Klaus Buchner (Greens/EFA).
According to an EU Council source, these will only start after the summer break under the Finnish Presidency.
To read the text of the Member States' mandate: https://bit.ly/2QQVRyr (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)