Jurist Surveillance technology exports face heightened scrutiny as rights groups urge EU for tighter controls

[Dadparvar]

A coalition of nine human rights and press freedom organizations on Monday called on the European Commission to strengthen export controls on digital surveillance technologies to prevent European Union (EU) member states from supplying tools used by governments to violate human rights.

In a joint submission to EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič—filed in response to the Commission’s targeted consultation on the overall evaluation of the 2021 Dual-Use Regulation—groups including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Access Now, Privacy International, and the Committee to Protect Journalists warned of ongoing harmful exports by member states, writing:

We, the undersigned human rights organizations, are writing in response to the European Commission’s open public consultation and call for evidence, as part of its evaluation of the 2021 Dual-Use Regulation (EU Regulation 2021/821). The undersigned organizations wish to express concern at the increasing number of harmful exports of surveillance technology by EU member states to destinations where there is a real risk they will be used to violate rights. We call on the European Commission to use this evaluation as an opportunity to strengthen export controls for listed and unlisted cybersurveillance items, as defined by the Regulation, in order to fulfil its promise to prevent the export of these technologies to countries where they could be used to perpetrate or contribute to human rights violations.

In September 2021, Regulation (EU) 2021/821 repealed and supplanted Council Regulation (EC) No 428/2009, which had primarily governed traditional military-grade dual-use goods and lagged behind emerging digital surveillance tools. According to the coalition, although the 2021 recast introduced a “catch-all” mechanism for non-listed cyber-surveillance items, required member states to evaluate recipient countries’ human rights records, and mandated public reporting, its weak definitions and corporate due diligence language failed to curb abusive exports.

The coalition noted that two nonbinding guidelines issued by the Commission in 2024 further undercut the regulation. Specifically, Commission Recommendation 2024/2659 addresses human rights and due diligence checks only for unlisted cyber-surveillance items under the catch-all clause while ignoring listed technologies, and Commission Recommendation 2024/214 restricts member state transparency reporting.

To close those regulatory gaps, the coalition urged the Commission to fundamentally overhaul its enforcement standards. This includes aligning export licensing criteria with the robust human rights requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, mandating public disclosure of all export license applications and verified end-users, and establishing binding domestic legal remedies for victims of digital surveillance abuses.

When EU negotiators agreed to update the export rules in November 2020, lawmakers pledged that authoritarian regimes would no longer be able to secretly obtain European cyber-surveillance tools. However, a May 2026 Human Rights Watch investigation revealed that member states have continued licensing intrusion software and telecommunications interception systems to rights-abusing governments, underscoring growing alarm over the proliferation of commercial spyware.

For instance, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) urged EU intervention in 2025 after authorities in EU candidate country Serbia targeted independent investigative journalists with military-grade spyware, Pegasus, designed by private enterprise NSO Group.

The post Surveillance technology exports face heightened scrutiny as rights groups urge EU for tighter controls appeared first on JURIST - News.

Continue reading...

Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.