Amnesty International welcomes the European Commission’s Public Consultation on the Evaluation of the Regulation (EU) 2021/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2021 setting up a Union regime for the control of exports, brokering, technical assistance, transit and transfer of dual-use items (recast) (hereafter “Dual Use Regulation”).
The 2021 Recast provides notable improvements, such as the inclusion of human rights criteria for the export of cyber-surveillance tools, a catch-all clause, and transparency and reporting requirements. These advances must be safeguarded. However, it is clear that weaknesses in the Regulation and its implementation have failed to stop the export of rights-violating surveillance technologies contributing to human rights abuses in third countries.
The Commission and Member States must act urgently to ensure that Dual-Use Regulation can put a meaningful check on dangerous surveillance exports. This will require ensuring that more technologies are subject to export authorization processes, that transparency is improved, that export authorisations are scrutinized for risks they pose to full range of human rights, and that due diligence is made meaningful and mandatory, as well as subject to oversight and transparency requirements.
Read our full contribution to the European Commission’s Public Consultation on the Evaluation of the Dual-Use Regulation.