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: 2025-09-12
Institutions: European Commission, Service for Foreign Policy Instruments
Subjects: activity report, cruel and degrading treatment, death penalty, dual-use good, export licence, import licence, international trade, third country, torture, trade restriction

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 12.9.2025  COM(2025) 482 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 2024. 

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). 

1 

 
 
 
 
 
 
c)  goods subject to the terms of Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP4;  

iii. 

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 2024, on 6 June and on 5 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 act amending the Regulation was adopted in 2024. However, the Commission 
engaged  in  extensive  consultations  with  the  ATCG  Member  States’  experts  on  a  draft 
delegated act amending Annexes II and III to broaden the scope of the Regulation.  

3.2 Trade information: data reporting 

The Commission presented to the ATCG the state of play on the annual report referred to in 
Article  26(3)  of  the  Regulation.  The  Commission  recalled  the  functionality  previously 
developed whereby authorities in the Member States are invited to upload the required data 
for reporting purposes directly in the Dual Use e-System (DUeS) library, under the module 
related  to  the  ‘Anti-Torture’  Regulation.  This  is  intended  to  streamline  and  facilitate  the 
aggregation of the data across all Member States. The information gathered includes notably 
the type of good, the export destination and the end use. Those elements are reflected in the 
Commission’s  annual  report  referred  to  above.  The  report  was  presented  to  the  ATCG 
following its adoption7.  

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) as amended. 
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 COM (2024) 529 final, 19.11.2024 and Annexes 1 to 9. 

2 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3.3 Torture-free trade 

The  Commission  updated  the  ATCG  on  the  content  of  the  annual  thematic  report  on  “the 
global  trade  in  weapons,  equipment  and  devices  used  by  law  enforcement  and  other  public 
authorities  that  are  capable  of  inflicting  torture  and  other  cruel,  inhuman  or  degrading 
treatment or punishment” from UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Edwards, issued on 
24 August 2023. 

In  the  report,  the  UN  Special  Rapporteur  presents  an  annual  overview  of  torture-related 
trends  and  developments,  as  well  as  a  thematic  study  on  the  global  trade  in  weapons, 
equipment  and  devices  used  by  law  enforcement  and  other  public  authorities  that  could  be 
used for inflicting torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. 

The Commission noted the relevance of this report in the context of possible strengthening of 
the EU Regulation.  

The  report  furthermore  identifies  a  list  of  items  regarded  as  inherently  cruel,  inhuman,  or 
degrading  and  that,  as  such,  should  be  prohibited  (non-exhaustive  list  of  20  types  of 
equipment/weapons).  It  then  recommends  a  list  of  goods  that  ought  to  be  regulated  at  the 
national  and  international  levels.  While  these  items  have  a  legitimate  use,  they  can  be 
misused for torture and therefore necessitate a level of oversight. 

The report concludes with a recommendation to  “develop  an international torture-free trade 
instrument  to  complement  and reinforce  existing  obligations to  prohibit  and prevent  torture 
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”  

The  Commission  also  informed  the  ATCG  about  a  group  of  over  thirty  civil  society 
organisations from all regions that supports the ongoing efforts towards ‘Torture-Free Trade.’ 
These organisations have joined forces to call for an international treaty to control the trade in 
tools of torture used to suppress peaceful protests and abuse detainees around the world. In a 
declaration signed in London in January 2023, human rights non-governmental organisations 
called for a treaty to prohibit the manufacture and trade in inherently abusive equipment, as 
well  as  the  introduction  of  more  human  rights-based  controls  on  the  trade  in  standard  law 
enforcement equipment. 

3.4 Follow  up  to  the  Commission’s  review  report:  Strengthening  Regulation  (EU) 

2019/125 

The  Commission  recalled  that,  following  the  presentation  at  the  ATCG  2023  November 
meeting of a draft proposal for a delegated act, the Commission launched a written procedure 
to  seek  the  views  of  the  ATCG  members.  The  Commission  received  comments  addressing 
specific  questions  or  seeking  further  clarifications,  which  were  appreciated  by  the 
Commission. The Commission furthermore informed the ATCG about the proposed changes 
that it intended to introduce further to the consultation phase, namely amendments to list of 
goods described in Annex II (comprises goods which have no practical use other than for the 

3 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
purpose  of  capital  punishment  or  for  the  purpose  of  torture  and  other  cruel,  inhuman  or 
degrading treatment or punishment) and Annex III (comprises goods that could be used for 
the purpose of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment). 

4