REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on the activities and consultations of the Anti-Torture Coordination Group referred to in Article 31 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
Date: 2023-11-08
Institutions: European Commission, Service for Foreign Policy Instruments
Subjects: cruel and degrading treatment, death penalty, dual-use good, exchange of information, export licence, import licence, international trade, third country, torture, trade restriction

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 8.11.2023  COM(2023) 694 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT             on the activities and consultations of the Anti-Torture Coordination Group referred to       in Article 31 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.  Introduction 

Article 31(4) of Regulation (EU) 2019/125 of 16 January 2019 (‘the Regulation’) concerning 
trade  in  certain  goods  which  could  be  used  for  capital  punishment,  torture  or  other  cruel, 
inhuman,  or  degrading  treatment  or  punishment1  requires  the  Commission  to  submit  an 
annual report to the European Parliament on the activities, examinations, and consultations of 
the  Anti-Torture  Coordination  Group  (ATCG).  The  report  must  not  undermine  the 
commercial interests of natural or legal persons. 

This report provides information on the ATCG’s activities in 2022. 

2.  Regulatory framework 

The Regulation’s objective 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, by restricting trade in certain goods. It distinguishes between: 

-  goods that are inherently abusive and should not be traded at all (Annex II); and 
-  goods that could be used for the purpose of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading 
treatment or punishment (Annex III) or for the purpose of capital punishment (Annex IV) but 
can also have legitimate uses, such as law enforcement or therapeutic purposes. 

Trade in goods listed in Annexes II, III and IV is subject to certain restrictions. In particular, 
the Regulation: 

i. 

ii. 

prohibits  the  import  into,  export  from  and  transit  through  the  EU  of  goods  listed  in 
Annex  II,  which  have  no  practical  use  other  than  for  the  purposes  of  capital 
punishment or torture. It prohibits the provision of any technical assistance relating to 
such goods, including training in how to use them. It also prohibits advertising such 
goods  in  print  media,  on  the  internet  or  on  television  or  radio,  and  displaying  or 
offering them for sale at an exhibition or trade fair; 

requires  prior  authorisation,  on  a  case-by-case  basis,  for  exports  of  goods  listed  in 
Annex  III,  which  could  be  used  for  the  purposes  of  torture,  but  may  have  other 
legitimate  uses  (e.g.  for  law  enforcement).  A  prior  export  authorisation  is  also 
required  for  supplying  technical  assistance  or  brokering  services  relating  to  this 
category of goods. Annex III does not include: 

a)  firearms subject to Regulation (EU) No 258/20122; 
b)  dual-use items subject to Regulation (EU) 2021/8213; or 

1 OJ L 30, 31.1.2019, p. 1. Having been amended several times, Council Regulation (EC) No 1236/2005 of 27 
June 2005 concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, 
inhuman  or  degrading  treatment  or  punishment  (OJ  L  200,  30.7.2005,  p.  1)  was  subsequently  codified  as 
Regulation (EU) 2019/125. 
2  Regulation  (EU)  No  258/2012  of  14  March  2012  implementing  Article  10  of  the  United  Nations  Protocol 
against  the  illicit  manufacturing  of  and  trafficking  in  firearms,  their  parts  and  components  and  ammunition, 
supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UN Firearms Protocol), 
and  establishing  an  export  authorisation,  and  import  and  transit  measures  for  firearms,  their  parts  and 
components and ammunition (OJ L 94, 30.3.2012, p. 1). 

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iii. 

c)  goods subject to the terms of Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP4; and 
regulates  trade  in  goods  in  Annex  IV  that  can  be  used  for  capital  punishment  (e.g. 
through lethal injection), but may also to be used for legitimate therapeutic purposes. 
A specific licence authorisation (Union general export authorisation (GEA)) has been 
introduced  to  control  the  export  of  such  goods  and  prevent  their  transfer  for  use  in 
lethal injection executions, without limiting trade in them for medical, veterinary, or 
other legitimate purposes. 

3.  Activities of the Anti-Torture Coordination Group 

The ATCG was set  up pursuant  to  Regulation  (EU) 2016/2134  of the European Parliament 
and of the Council5 to examine questions concerning the application of the Regulation. 

The ATCG serves as  a  platform for Member State experts and the Commission services to 
exchange information  on administrative practices and discuss issues of interpretation  of the 
Regulation,  technical  issues  with  the  goods  listed,  developments  relating  to  the  Regulation, 
and  any  other  matters  that  may  arise.  The  Commission  also  consults  the  ATCG  when 
preparing  delegated  acts,  in  accordance  with  the  Interinstitutional  Agreement  of  13  April 
2016 on Better Law-Making6. 

The ATCG met on two occasions in 2022, on 12 May and on 1 December, in a virtual format, 
the 
issues 
to  exchange 
implementation of the Regulation. 

(summarised  below)  concerning 

information  on  several 

3.1 Developments relating to the basic act 

No delegated acts amending the Regulation were adopted in 2022. 

3.2 Trade information: data reporting 

The Commission presented the state of play on the annual report referred to in Article 26(3) 
of the Regulation. In particular, the 2021 data from all the authorities in the Member States as 
well  as  from  the  United  Kingdom7,  constituting  the  basis  for  the  preparation  by  the 
Commission  of  its  annual  report  to  the  European  Parliament  and  to  the  Council,  was 
presented.  The  Commission  furthermore  provided  information  about  the  trade  data  in  that 
report once it was adopted8.  

3 Regulation (EU)  2021/821  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) (OJ L 206, 11.6.2021, p. 1). 
4 Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP defining common rules governing the control of exports of military 
technology and equipment (OJ L 335, 13.12.2008, p. 99). 
5 Regulation (EU) 2016/2134 of the European Parliament and of the Council of  23 November 2016 amending 
Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1236/2005  concerning  trade  in  certain  goods  which  could  be  used  for  capital 
punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment (OJ L 338, 13.12.2016, p. 1). 
6 OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1. 
7 Regulation (EU) 2019/125 is included in Annex 2 to the Protocol on Northern Ireland (Point 47 Other), OJ L 
29, 31.1.2020. 
8 COM (2022) 567 final, 31.10.2022. 

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In  this  context,  the  Commission  drew  the  attention  of  the  ATCG  to  the  fact  that  it  is 
compulsory for competent authorities to notify when denials are issued by means of the Dual-
Use Electronic System (DUeS).  

3.3 Commission’s informal group of experts 

The Commission continued to inform the ATCG about the activities of the informal group of 
experts formed in line with the conclusions of its review report9. The informal group brings 
together  different  perspectives  (e.g.  advocacy,  law  enforcement,  research,  and  customs).  Its 
function is strictly advisory and complementary to the one provided by the ATCG. 

Throughout 2022, the ATCG was debriefed about the deliberations within the informal group 
of experts related to the United Nations (UN) process towards ‘Torture Free Trade’ (see point 
3.4 below). In particular, the Commission informed the ATCG about the submissions in the 
context  of  the  UN  Group  of  Governmental  Experts  (UN  GGE)  consultation  and  about 
possible  international  standards  in  that  field.  Some  of  the  main  aspects  considered  by  the 
informal  group  were:  consideration  of  the  trade  in  goods  designed  for  the  death  penalty 
within  the  overall  process,  examples  of  Treaties  and/or  Framework  conventions  on  which 
some parallelisms could be established, need for building in a degree of flexibility to ensure 
broader consensus on core essential principles/requirements, preference for avenues entailing 
legally binding obligations as well as the need for further engagement with a wide group of 
countries.  

3.4 Torture-free trade — regional and international developments 

The  ATCG  served  as  a  platform  for  exchanging  information  and  raising  awareness  on 
regional and international developments in the field of torture-free trade. 

The  Commission  updated  the  ATCG  delegates  on  the  submission  of  the  UN  Group  of 
Governmental  Experts’  (UN  GGE)10  final  report  adopted  on  30  May  2022.  The  UN  GGE 
report  addressed the following topics:  (i)  feasibility of common international  standards; (ii) 
scope of goods to be considered; and (iii) draft parameters for a range of options to establish 
common international standards on the matter. 

The UN GGE made concrete proposals on the categories of goods that could be covered and 
the  forms  that  international  standards  could  take.  The  report  essentially  discussed  the 
possibility of developing standards in relation to four categories of goods, namely: 

i. 
ii. 
iii. 
iv. 

goods that have no other practical use than for the purpose of torture and ill-treatment,  
goods that could be used for torture and ill-treatment,  
goods that have no other practical use than for the purpose of capital punishment and  
goods that could be used for the purpose of capital punishment. 

Recognising the absence of consensus among the UN governmental experts as regards trade 
in goods used for capital punishment, the report suggests treating them separately through an 
“opt-in”  mechanism.  The  report  furthermore  makes  a  compelling  argument  for  the  UN 

9 COM (2020) 343 final, 30.7.2020. 
10 Governmental experts from the following 10 States were appointed by the Secretary-General in July 2021: 
Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Germany, Russian Federation, Singapore and 
Uruguay. 

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General Assembly to set up a working group to prepare international standards on torture-free 
trade.  

The ATCG also received a presentation from invited experts from Amnesty International and 
the Omega Research Foundation to present their research and advocacy work to support the 
establishment of a Torture-Free Trade Treaty within the context of the civil society campaign 
‘Protect  the  protest’.  It  includes  outreach  efforts  to  engage  States  to  develop  regional  and 
international controls and to support the UN process which is being supported by a network 
of  civil  society  organisations.  The  invited  experts  presented:  (1)  trends  observed  in  recent 
years of extra-custodial torture and ill-treatment, in the context of the repression of peaceful 
protests,  that  is  combined  with  restrictive  legislation,  arbitrary  detention,  criminalisation  of 
protests, unlawful mass and targeted surveillance and unlawful use of and trade in less lethal 
equipment, and (2) their views of the essential elements of any Torture-Free Trade Treaty to 
help prevent torture and other ill-treatment through setting strong international standards.  

3.5 Other matters 

The ATCG was furthermore seized of the following matters: 

-  Russian war of aggression against Ukraine 

Given  Russia’s  war  of  aggression  against  Ukraine  and  increased  internal  repression  of 
opponents  to  the  war,  the  ATCG  noted  the  need  for  extra  caution  when  it  comes  to 
authorising  possible  requests  to  export  to  Russia  or  Belarus  goods  listed  in  the  Regulation, 
notably  goods  for  law  enforcement  and/or  riot  control.  In  that  regard,  the  ATCG  was 
informed  that  the  list  of  restricted  items  which  may  contribute  to  Russia's  military  and 
technological  enhancement  or  the  development  of  its  defence  and  security  sector  has  been 
extended.  The  list  includes  certain  electronic  components,  additional  chemicals  and  goods 
that  can  be  used  for  capital  punishment,  torture  or  other  cruel,  inhuman,  or  degrading 
treatment. 

- 

Iran 

Noting  the  alarming  increase  in  unlawful  killings  and  other  human  rights  violations  (since 
protests  erupted  in  mid-September  2022,  with  credible  reports  of  unlawful  deployment  of 
lethal  force,  but  also  resort  to  the  death  penalty  as  a  tool  of  intimidation  and  political 
repression) in  Iran, the Commission underlined the need for extra caution when it comes to 
granting possible requests to export to Iran goods listed in the Regulation, notably goods for 
law enforcement and/or riot control. 

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