INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL INSTRUMENTS 27
Rule 49
The prison administration should seek access to, and provide training in the use of,
control techniques that would obviate the need for the imposition of instruments of
restraint or reduce their intrusiveness.68
II. Regional regulations and multilateral regimes
There are few regional controls on the trade in law-enforcement equipment. At
present, the only consolidated set of standards that specifically address the
trade in certain law-enforcement devices are contained within EC Regulation
1236/2005. This regulation, directly applicable to all EU member states, uses a
list-based approach to exercise trade controls over a range of named types of
equipment. The controls range from a complete prohibition on the import and
export by member states of named equipment that may be used for torture or
the death penalty to an export-licensing requirement for those goods which
. . . could be used not only for the purpose of torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment, but also for legitimate purposes. These controls
should apply to goods that are primarily used for law enforcement purposes and,
unless such controls prove disproportionate, to any other equipment or product that
could be abused for the purpose of torture and other cruel inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment, taking into account its design and technical features.69
To date, EC Regulation 1236/2005 is the most comprehensive set of binding
international trade controls available and, while being list-based and therefore
in need of updating to keep pace with advances in technology, represents a
good template for establishing controls over the trade in specific lawenforcement equipment.
Furthermore, certain riot control agents—in particular CS, CN and CR—
feature on the EU and the Wassenaar Arrangement lists of equipment subject
to trade controls.70 However, these control lists do not cover the full range of
riot control agents and their means of delivery, such as PAVA or OC
(commonly found in pepper spray). Larger ‘wide-area’ riot control agent
means of delivery—which have already been manufactured by Russia and
Turkey—should be evaluated to see whether they breach the ‘types and
quantities’ provisions set out in the Chemical Weapons Convention.71
68
UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (note 67).
Regulation (EC) No 1236/2005 of 27 June 2005 concerning trade in certain goods which
could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, <http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2005:200:0001:0019:EN:PDF>.
70 Common Military List of the European Union (equipment covered by Council Common Position
2008/944/CFSP defining common rules governing the control of exports of military technology and
equipment) (2014/C 107/01), adopted by the Council on 17 Mar. 2014, <http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014XG0409%2801%29&from=EN>;
and
Wassenaar
Arrangement,
Control
list,
<http://www.wassenaar.org/controllists/2013/WALIST%20%2813%29%201/WA-LIST%20%2813%29%201.pdf [ML 7]>.
71 ‘Wide area’ riot control agent means of delivery are those large-calibre munitions and delivery
systems which can be utilized for delivering significant amounts of chemical irritants over wide areas
and/or extended distances. These include, but are not limited to, large smoke generators, backpack or
69 Council
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