New rules make export of surveillance technology more difficult

Today, Members of the European Parliament will debate and vote on the outcome of the negotiations on the revised Dual-use Regulation. Dual-use goods can be used for civilian and military purposes, including, for example, drones and computer technologies. The Dual-use Regulation will for the first time contain strict export controls for surveillance technology, due diligence obligations for EU governments and transparency provisions on the type of surveillance technology exported and the name of the recipient country.

Markéta Gregorová, European Parliament Rapporteur and Czech Pirate Member of the Greens/EFA Group, comments:

"Strict export controls, transparency rules and due diligence requirements for the trade in surveillance technology will set the bar for European export policy and help strengthen human rights worldwide. On the initiative of the Greens/EFA Group, the European Parliament has successfully pushed through stricter and more thorough controls on exports. Dictatorships can no longer benefit from lax rules that barely control exports for surveillance technology.
 
"The new rules will ensure that sensitive technologies no longer end up in the hands of those who spy on and persecute opponents of regimes, human rights activists and minorities with. These new export standards are a clear message to the Chinese leadership and other authoritarian regimes, that they can no longer easily import facial recognition and other surveillance technologies from the EU. Now it's up to European governments to implement the new rules EU-wide and expand them around the globe with our democratic partners."

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Watch the plenary debate with Markéta Gregorová live, 2nd item on the plenary agenda starting at 14:30
Final results are expected to be announced at 19:00.