European Dual-Use Trade Controls

The Chaudfontaine Group was established in 2010 in order to hold an annual two-day meeting gathering young Europeans with diverse academic backgrounds – lawyers, economists and political scientists – from relevant national authorities and European institutions, from industry and from European academic centres. Its members are invited to discuss their respective viewpoints on strategic issues concerning the European trade of sensitive goods in a constantly and rapidly evolving international context.

In November 2012, at its third conference, the Group debated the subject of the European dual-use trade controls from the perspective of EU members, institutions and industry, addressing the challenges linked to intangible technology transfers and the extraterritorial application of non-EU legislation. The objective was to review and discuss a rapidly evolving issue through the lens of individual member states’ export control regulations and experience, and from the perspectives of both industry and academia.

Exploring the way that export controls have evolved and analysing both «hard» and «soft» legal norms, the third conference set out to establish a critical understanding of new developments as well as looking at the more specific elements of export control, with a view to formulating propositions that would go «beyond regulations».

Throughout this book, contributions from a wide variety of EU member states demonstrate that in the realisation of the European motto «United in diversity» the EU is once again searching for greater coherence on the international scene.