European technology will not serve dictators

Authoritarian regimes will no longer be able to use modern European technologies to oppress their citizens. The European Parliament approved the revised Dual-use Regulation. Dual-use goods can be used for civilian and military purposes, including, for example, drones and computer technologies. The rapporteur for the Regulation was the Pirate MEP Markéta Gregorová, who sees the enforcement of the Regulation as a major political success.642 MEPs voted in favor, 37 were against and there were 9 abstentions.

The Dual-use Regulation focuses mainly on new developments in technology and responds by introducing a cyber-surveillance technology item as well as a helpful list of those. Thanks to the regulation it will be possible to expand the list according to what is currently happening globally. 

"As it could have been in the case of last year's protests in Belarus. There, Lukashenko used DPI (deep packet inspection) technology to limit internet services, thus complicating communication for protesters. Now such a threat can be assessed and the export of technology can be flexibly limited," Gregorová explained.

The Dual-use Regulation for the first time contains 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.

The Regulation will enter into force unchanged in all Member States within a few days.

(WBJ)