European Council Regulation (EC) 1236/2005 concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (the Anti-Torture Regulation) was the first legally-binding regional control regime on the trade in tools of torture. It serves as an inspiration for other human rights-based trade control processes.
The Regulation, which came into force in 2006, covers the trade in three different categories of equipment:
- Those designated to have no practical use other than for capital punishment, torture or other ill-treatment (Annex II). The Regulation prohibits importing, exporting, and promoting these goods as well as related services such as training.
- A range of other kinds of law enforcement equipment that could be used in human rights violations (Annex III). The Regulation requires EU Member States to refuse to give export authorisation for these goods where there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that they might be used for torture or other ill-treatment. In addition to the transfer of goods, the Regulation covers technical assistance, brokering, training, promotion, and trade in related components and assembly kits.
- The Regulation establishes a separate licensing mechanism to regulate the export and transit of certain pharmaceutical chemicals (Annex IV) to prevent their use in ‘lethal injection’ executions, while facilitating trade for medical, veterinary or other legitimate purposes.
Under the Regulation, EU Member States are required to report applications and export authorisations (granted and denied) to the European Commission, which publishes an annual report. While States are also required to make an annual activity report public, few do this consistently.
Designed to be a ‘living instrument’ the Regulation incorporates mechanisms to respond to technological developments, changes in the international market, and evolving practices of use and misuse of law enforcement equipment in third countries. These measures include a formal five yearly review of the Regulation and its implementation, as well as provisions facilitating more frequent review and amendment of the Annexes of goods. In 2011 and 2014, for example, the Regulation’s lists of prohibited and controlled goods were updated and extended. Further changes were made in 2016 and 2020, including strengthening operative provisions in 2016. Omega monitors the Regulation’s implementation and advocates for it to be strengthened, including through regular engagement with EU officials.
In May 2025, the European Commission completed an extensive review of the Regulation’s prohibited and controlled lists, and published its formal proposals to significantly expand the range of equipment covered by the Regulation. Accepted later in 2025, these changes include:
- Adding hoods and blindfolds, leg irons, gang chains, lathis, sjamboks, weighted gloves, weighted batons, delivery mechanisms fitted to drones that disperse injurious amounts of chemical irritants, and fixed chemical irritant delivery mechanisms intended for use in prisons and other enclosed spaces, to Annex II.
- Adding leg cuffs, malodorants, single kinetic impact projectiles, multiple kinetic-impact projectiles, and multi-barrel launchers onto the Annex III list of law enforcement goods controlled by the Regulation.
This significant expansion of the EU Regulation responds to changes in the range, technological sophistication, and patterns of use and misuse of law enforcement equipment around the world. As well as addressing the continuing use of restraints and other law enforcement equipment to torture and ill-treat detainees in prisons, police stations, detention centres, and secure medical facilities, the new measures will now allow EU States to more effectively regulate the export of a variety of less lethal weapons that are regularly misused in non-custodial contexts and so prevent their transfer to police and security forces who are likely to misuse them to repress and punish protest on the streets.
It is particularly significant that the strengthened EU Regulation also reflects and appears to respond to the 2023 UN Special Rapporteur on Torture’s study into the global trade of law enforcement equipment used in torture and other ill-treatment. It is important that the EU now further align with the UN Special Rapporteur’s study, in particular by prohibiting direct contact electric shock weapons, ammunition containing multiple kinetic impact projectiles, and multi-barrel launchers, and by controlling the export of police batons and handcuffs.
The EU Regulation changes are an important marker and impetus for continued international efforts by States through the Alliance for Torture Free-Trade and civil society, including through the Torture-Free Trade Network, to advocate for development of a legally binding international treaty.
