Dr. Machiko Kanetake spoke at the European Commission鈥檚 Export Control Forum
Surveillance technologies are globally traded and transferred, bringing both benefits and risks. A thorny question is how to control the problematic risks, while preserving the legitimate trade of digital technologies. This is one of the central questions in the research of Dr. Machiko Kanetake, Associate Professor at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 School of Law. On 8 December 2021, she was invited to present at the organised by the European Commission and the Slovenian Presidency of the Council.
The global sale and transfer of surveillance technologies can facilitate the misuse of various surveillance technologies.
Since 2013, the EU has been discussing how to respond to the risks associated with the international transfer of digital surveillance technologies. In May 2021, the EU has adopted the new Export Control Regulation, which entered into force in September 2021. Under the new regulation, if an exporter is 鈥渁ware鈥濃攁ccording to its 鈥渄ue diligence findings鈥濃攖hat non-listed cyber surveillance items 鈥渁re intended, in their entirely or in part鈥 鈥渇or use in connection with internal repression and/or the commission of serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law,鈥 the exporter is obliged to notify the competent authority. On this basis, the member state authority must decide whether to impose an authorization requirement.
While human rights due diligence is relatively new in the field of export controls, such due diligence has developed extensively in many other fields of business and human rights. At the European Commission鈥檚 Export Control Forum, dr. Kanetake talked about the importance of integrating international human rights norms into the interpretation of due diligence in export controls. By so doing, the EU鈥檚 autonomous controls over cyber surveillance technologies can, in substance, be aligned with multilateral normative frameworks. This in turn increases the possibility for the EU鈥檚 framework to be used as a template by non-EU countries. Dr. Kanetake also referred to the importance of having a multidisciplinary group of experts and researchers in the process of operationalizing human rights risk assessment over cyber surveillance technologies.