5.2.2. Thumb cuffs Thumb cuffs are restraint devices shaped broadly like handcuffs, but designed for use on detainees’ or prisoners’ thumbs. Various types of thumb cuffs are currently marketed, including fixed thumb cuffs, which feature only a bar of metal with holes for thumbs; as well as thumb cuffs connected by chains. The practical utility of thumb cuffs for legitimate law enforcement purposes is unproven, while their propensity for use in “stress positions” amounting to torture and other illtreatment is evident. Consequently in July 2014, thumb cuffs, finger cuffs and thumbscrews were added to Annex II of the EC Regulation 1236/2005 and their import and export from the EU was prohibited.207 It is unknown whether any non-EU CoE member States currently control or prohibit the trade in such devices. 5.2.2.1. Manufacture and promotion of thumb cuffs by CoE companies Thumb cuffs have been marketed by law enforcement and security equipment distributors within the Council of Europe on the internet and at CoE arms and security fairs. For example, two French companies - Le Protecteur-Scorpion-ATAM and Welkit - promoted thumb cuffs in product catalogues distributed at Milipol 2015 in Paris, France in November 2015208; whilst three German companies –Buchner Grosshandel209, Haller Stahlwaren210, and NOWAR security equipment GmbH211 – and a Spanish company –Shoke Defensa y Seguridad212 - included thumb-cuffs amongst the range of security equipment marketed on their websites, until at least November 2017. In response to an information request, Haller Stahlwaren informed the Omega Research Foundation that they “stopped selling this item at once on 30.11.2017”213 Images of Nowar thumb cuffs taken from the company’s online product catalogue, January 2018. 207 EU, European Commission, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 775/2014 of 16 July 2014 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1236/2005. Published in Official Journal of the European Union, L210/1, 17 July 2014, Annex II, Article 2.2. 208 Company brochures on file with the Omega Research Foundation. 209 Daumenschellen mit Arretierung, Buchner Grosshandel, available at https://www.buchnergrosshandel.de/daumenschellen-mit-arretierung.html (accessed 28 November 2017). 210 Daumenfessel verchromt, Haller Stahlwaren, available at http://www.hallerstahlwaren.de/html/daumenfessel-verchromt/item-1-30833.html (accessed 28 November 2017). 211 Nowar catalogue, available at http://www.nowar.de/katalog/standard/001_pers_equipment_accessoires/114_hand_und_fussfesseln/nowar_dau menfessel/dauemfessel_uk.htm (accessed 18 January 2018). 212 Shoke Defensa y Seguriad available at https://www.tiendashoke.es/esposas-grilletes/yuil-pulgares-acero (accessed 28 November 2017). 213 Correspondence from Haller Stahlwaren Gmbh to the Omega Research Foundation, 21 December 2017. 44