EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 14.12.2020
COM(2020) 799 final
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL
Report on export authorisation in 2019 pursuant to the Regulation concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
1.Introduction
The objective of Regulation (EU) 2019/125 concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment ( 1 ) (the Regulation) is to prevent capital punishment, on the one hand, and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in countries outside the EU, on the other. It distinguishes between goods that:
-are inherently abusive and should not be traded at all (Annex II), or
-can have legitimate uses, such as law enforcement equipment (Annex III) or goods for therapeutic use (Annex IV).
Trade in such goods is subject to certain restrictions.
Article 26(3) of the Regulation states that the Member States must draw up a public, annual activity report. The report must provide information on the number of applications received, the goods and countries concerned, and the decisions taken on the applications. Article 26(4) states that the Commission must draw up an annual report comprised of the annual activity reports published by the Member States. It must make the report publicly available.
This Commission report provides information on Member States’ authorisation activities concerning exports of goods in 2019( 2 ). which could be used for torture or for capital punishment in 2019
All Member States have reported on the number of export authorisations granted and refused under Articles 11(1) and 16(1) and on the goods and countries of destination in question. In most cases, the competent authorities in the Member States have also reported on the numbers or quantities of goods authorised for export and the category of end-user to whom the goods were supplied.
|
Authorisations under Regulation (EU) 2019/125 Articles 11(1) and 16(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/125 require an authorisation for exports ( 3 ) of goods listed in Annex III (11(1) and Annex IV (16(1). Annex III lists certain goods that could be used for torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Goods in Annex III fall under the following headings: goods designed for restraining human beings; weapons and devices designed for the purpose of riot control or self-protection, and weapons and equipment disseminating incapacitating or irritating chemical substances for the purpose of riot control or self-protection, and certain related substances. Annex IV lists certain chemicals that could be used in lethal injections. Except where the Union General Export Authorisation set out in Annex V is used for exports of goods listed in Annex IV, the authorisation to export has to be obtained from the competent authorities of the Member State concerned, as listed in Annex I to the Regulation. Exports to destinations listed in the Union General Export Authorisation can usually take place without obtaining an individual or global authorisation granted by a Member State. The approach so far has been to include a non-EU country in Annex V if it has ratified a relevant international agreement with a commitment to abolishing the death penalty for all crimes. For countries outside the Council of Europe, that means the country in question must have ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) without reservation. However, if there is reasonable suspicion about the exporter’s ability to comply with the terms of the authorisation or with export control legislation, the competent authority may prohibit the exporter from using the Union General Export Authorisation. Article 20(2) of Regulation (EU) No 2019/125 states that an export authorisation granted by a Member State can be an individual authorisation (an authorisation for exports to one end-user or consignee in a non-EU country) or a global authorisation (an authorisation for exports to one or more specified end-users or distributors in one or more specified non-EU countries) ( 4 ). Articles 3, 4 and 5 of the Regulation prohibit the export, import and transit of the goods listed in Annex II. Competent authorities may grant a derogation from the prohibition, but only if it is demonstrated that the goods concerned will be used exclusively for public display in a museum (either in a non-EU country or, in accordance with Article 4, in a Member State) given their historic significance. |
2.Authorisations granted and refused
In 2019, the total number of reported authorisations amounted to 285 with 11 Member States reporting that they had granted authorisations. The remaining Member States informed the Commission that they had not received any applications for authorisations pursuant to the Regulation.
As the definition of an individual authorisation and a global authorisation in Article 2 of the Regulation does not include a quantitative component, an indication of the number of authorisations granted does not give an indication of the number or quantity of goods concerned by these authorisations. Nor does the information Member States provide to the Commission typically distinguish between individual authorisations and global authorisations.
The Regulation requires the competent authorities to check if an export authorisation has indications that, if exported, the goods in question might be used for torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Annex III) or for capital punishment (Annex IV). This is why Article 20(8) of the Regulation states that the competent authority should ‘receive complete information in particular on the end-user, the country of destination and the end-use of the goods’.
In 2019, six applications ( 5 ) for an export authorisation were reported as denied. The reported cases of denial in 2019 concerned certain intended transactions with customers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, India, Israel, Nigeria and Niger. The unauthorised transactions primarily concerned goods listed in Annex III code 3.1 ( 6 ). The intended export to Nigeria concerned goods listed in Annex III code 3.6 ( 7 ) The intended export to India concerned goods listed in Annex IV (thiopental).
Articles 3, 4 and 5 of the Regulation prohibit the export, import and transit of the goods listed in Annex II, respectively. The Regulation allows the competent national authorities to grant a derogation from the prohibition, but only if it is demonstrated that the goods concerned will be used exclusively for public display in a museum (either in a non-EU country or, in accordance with Article 4, in a Member State) in view of their historic significance. The competent authorities reported that they had not granted such derogations in 2019.
Annex 1 to this report provides information on the number of export authorisations granted by the national competent authorities in 2019, by category of goods (Annex III and Annex IV). Exports pursuant to the Union General Export Authorisation (Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2019/125) are not included in the information on the number of authorisations granted.
Annex 2 provides information on the number of applications authorised and denied over the period 2017-2019.
Annex 3 provides information on the main reported destinations of authorised exports.
Annexes 4 and 5 provide an overview of the goods authorised for export, their destinations and their reported end-use.
3.End-users
The information received by the Commission makes it possible to draw a distinction between end use for law enforcement, science and healthcare (in hospitals and for veterinary use) and end use by security and trading firms.
Annex 6 summarises the information provided to the Commission on the reported end-use of authorised exports in 2019.
OJ L 30, 31.1.2019, p. 1.
This report does not provide information on exporters’ use of the Union General Export Authorisation for exports of goods listed in Annex IV (Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2019/125).
Article 2(d) of Regulation (EU) 2019/125 defines ‘export’ as ‘any departure of goods from the customs territory of the Union, including the departure of goods that requires a customs declaration and the departure of goods after their storage in a free zone within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council’.
Article 2(p) fully defines ‘individual authorisation’. Article 2(q) fully defines ‘global authorisation’.
The number of ‘denials’ for 2019 differs from the number in the review report (COM (2020) 343), as it takes into account data not available at the time of finalising the report.
Goods listed in Annex III under code 3.1: portable weapons and equipment for the administration or dissemination of a dose of an incapacitating or irritating chemical substance.
Goods listed in Annex III under code 3.6: fixed or mountable equipment for the dissemination of incapacitating or irritating agents over a wide area.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 14.12.2020
COM(2020) 799 final
ANNEXES
to the
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL
Report on export authorisation in 2019 pursuant to the Regulation concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Annex 1:
Number of reported export authorisations issued by Member States pursuant to Article 20(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/125 by Annex entry
Annex 2:
Number of reported export authorisations issued by Member States over the period 2017– 2019
Annex 3:
Reported destinations 1 of authorised exports in 2019 2
Annex 4:
Overview of reported authorised exports of Annex III goods in 2019
|
Code |
Product Annex III |
Destination |
End use |
Competent authority |
|
1.1 |
Shackles and gang chains |
Bahrain (2), Serbia (1), Argentina (1) |
Law enforcement |
CZ |
|
Montenegro (1), North Macedonia (4), Oman (1), Switzerland (1), United States (1) |
End use not stipulated |
DE |
||
|
Hong Kong (1), Australia (2), New Zealand (1) |
Law enforcement |
UK |
||
|
1.2 |
Individual cuffs or rings fitted with a locking mechanism |
Barbados (1) |
Law enforcement |
UK |
|
2.1 |
Portable electric discharge weapons, including but not limited to electric shock batons, electric shock shields, stun guns and electric shock dart guns |
Aruba (1), Moldova (1), Montenegro (1), Ukraine (1), UAE (1), Switzerland (1) |
Law enforcement (Aruba), Traders |
CZ |
|
New Caledonia (2), Central African Republic (1) |
End use not stipulated |
DE |
||
|
Andorra (1) |
Law enforcement |
ES |
||
|
Andorra (1), Senegal (1) |
Private security firm |
FR |
||
|
United States (1) |
Other |
UK |
||
|
3.1 |
Portable weapons and equipment for administration or dissemination of a dose of an incapacitating or irritating chemical substance. |
Aruba (1), Moldova (1), Montenegro (1), Ukraine (1), UAE (1), Switzerland (1) |
Law enforcement (Aruba), Traders |
CZ |
|
Andorra (9), Bosnia and Herzegovina (4), Chile (1), Democratic Republic of the Congo (1), French Polynesia (1), Japan (4), Kosovo (1), Cuba (1), Mali (1), Montenegro (2), Namibia (1), New Caledonia (2), North Macedonia (1), Pakistan (1), Moldova (1), Switzerland (11) Serbia (1), Somalia (3), South Africa (7), Tunisia (1), Uruguay (1), United States (1), China (2). |
End use not stipulated |
DE |
||
|
Andorra (2) |
Law enforcement |
ES |
||
|
Senegal (1), Andorra (2), Niger (1) |
Private security firm, law enforcement (customs) (Niger) |
FR |
||
|
United Arab Emirates (2) |
Private security firm |
PL |
||
|
Andorra, Australia, Switzerland, South Africa, United States (total 6) |
Other |
SE |
||
|
Australia (1) |
Law enforcement |
UK |
||
|
3.2 |
Pelargonic acid vanillylamide (PAVA) |
Brazil (4), India (13), Japan (1), South Korea (3), Singapore (1), Sri Lanka (1), South Africa (1), Thailand (1), Turkey (2), China (3) (30) |
End use not stipulated |
DE |
|
Costa Rica (1), Gibraltar (1), United States (1) |
Clinical and laboratory use (Costa Rica and US), law enforcement (Gibraltar) |
UK |
||
|
3.3 |
Oleoresin capsicum (OC) |
Egypt (1), Argentine (2), Australia (1), Japan (1), Kenya (1), Russia (2), Switzerland (5), South Africa (1), Tunisia (1), Ukraine (4), China (1) |
End-use not stipulated |
DE |
|
Aruba (1), BES Islands (3), Curaçao (2), Sint Marteen (1) and global licence to referred destinations |
Law enforcement |
NL |
||
|
3.4 |
3.4 Mixtures containing at least 0.3 % of PAVA by weight or OC and a solvent (pepper spray) |
Brazil (1), Japan (1), Russia (1), Switzerland (4), Ukraine (5), United States (1), China (1). |
End-use not stipulated |
DE |
|
Saint Helena (1) |
Law enforcement |
UK |
||
|
3.6 |
Fixed or mountable equipment for the dissemination of incapacitating or irritating agents covering a wide area |
Switzerland (2), United Arab Emirates (1). |
End use not stipulated |
DE |
Annex 5:
Detailed overview of reported authorised exports of Annex IV goods in 2019
|
Code |
Product Annex IV |
Destination |
End use |
Competent authority |
|
1.1 (a) |
Amobarbital |
Norway (1) (Same authorisation is used for all listed goods exported from the UK destined for Norway). |
Clinical and laboratory use |
UK |
|
1.1 ( c) |
Pentobarbital |
Norway |
Clinical and laboratory use |
UK |
|
1.1 (d) |
Pentobarbital sodium salt |
Aruba (1), Canada (2), Curaçao (2), Hong Kong (2), Malaysia (1), Switzerland (2) |
Veterinary use |
NL |
|
United States (1) |
Clinical and laboratory use |
UK |
||
|
1.1 ( e) |
Secobarbital |
Jordan (1), Norway, United States (1) |
Clinical and laboratory use |
UK |
|
1.1 (g) |
Thiopental |
Saudi Arabia (1), Iran (1), Albania (1), Iraq (1) |
Medical use |
CZ |
|
Bosnia and Herzegovina (5), Serbia (1) |
Medical use |
AT |
||
|
Angola (3) |
Medical/pharmaceutical use |
PT |
||
|
Norway |
Clinical and laboratory use |
UK |
||
|
1.1 (h) |
Thiopental sodium salt |
Lebanon (1) |
Medical use |
FR |
|
Argentina (2) |
Medical/pharmaceutical use |
IT |
||
|
Brazil (2) |
Medical/pharmaceutical use |
IT |
||
|
Mexico (2) |
Medical/pharmaceutical use |
IT |
||
|
Moldova (1) |
Medical/pharmaceutical use |
IT |
||
|
Turkey (4) |
Medical/pharmaceutical use |
IT |
||
|
Ghana (2), Malaysia (1), Sierra Leone (2), Singapore (3) |
Medical use |
NL |
||
|
Nigeria (3) |
Medical/pharmaceutical use |
PT |
||
|
Sierra Leone (1), Australia (3), Falkland Islands (1), Singapore (1), Zimbabwe (1) |
Health care/medical use |
UK |
||
|
1.1 |
Other short and intermediate acting barbiturate anaesthetic agents |
Egypt (2),Antarctic (1), Argentina (2), Australia (2), Chile (3), Iran (1), Israel (2), Japan (1), Jordan (1), Canada (1), Kenya (1), Colombia (3), Malaysia (1), Mexico (3), Namibia (1), Norway (2), New Zealand (1), Oman (2), Peru (2), Russia (1), Switzerland (2), Zimbabwe (1), South Africa (2), Turkey (3). |
End use not stipulated |
DE |
|
Norway, United States (2), Belize (1), Switzerland (1) |
Clinical and laboratory use (Norway, United States, Switzerland), veterinary use (Belize) |
UK |
Annex 6:
Reported end-use of authorised exports to third countries in 2019 3
If a particular name is used in the list of destinations, it should not be construed as going beyond referring to a (customs) territory commonly known by that name.
‘Other destinations’ include those to which one export authorisation only was reported, namely: Albania, Antarctic, Barbados, Belize, Central African Republic, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Falklands Islands, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Saint Helena (UK), Sint Marteen, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uruguay. One reported authorisation to one of the Channel Islands has not been accounted for the purposes of this report, as it does not qualify as an export within the meaning of Article 2(d) of Regulation (EU) 2019/125.
The number of export authorisation does not match the number referred to in in previous Annexes, as not all authorities in the Member States stipulate the end-use.