EU Parliament Paper Examines Dual-Use Export Control Challenges
A recently published EU Parliament briefing summarizes the EU's approach to dual-use export controls, the main export control issues facing its legislators, how experts view the EU's export laws and the role Parliament can play. The briefing noted that Parliament has until Nov. 8 to "raise any objections" to the EU's September update to its dual-use export control list, which included items that couldn't be agreed to at multilateral export control forums because Moscow was blocking their passage (see 2509090009).
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The briefing said legal experts viewed the export control list update as "more than a technical revision of individual parameters and specifications," adding that it was a "step in the EU's effort to expand export controls into a broader economic security toolkit, which treats quantum technologies, semiconductors, advanced materials and biotechnology as strategic domains rather than neutral industrial sectors." Other experts with the European Council on Foreign Relations have noted that the current multilateral export control system is "unfit for the present era," especially those that have become "dysfunctional" -- such as the Wassenaar Arrangement -- because of Russia's veto powers, the briefing said.
"Looking outwards, the EU should work towards establishing a Wassenaar interim arrangement with all WA members willing to work together and add additional technologies to a control list," experts have said, according to the briefing. "It should also forge an economic security alliance to examine how strategic technology developments are affecting collective security, and if necessary to align export control standards to mitigate any identified risks."