US to Release Human Rights Code of Conduct for Export Controls
The Biden administration will soon announce a new “code of conduct” to improve export controls on goods and technology that could be used for human rights abuses, an effort being rolled out as part of the second Summit for Democracy this week, a senior administration official said during a March 29 call with reporters. The code, which the U.S. said it was “working to develop” during the first democracy summit in 2021 (see 2112090030), “commits subscribing states to better integrate human rights criteria in their export control regimes,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
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The White House said the code of conduct is one of several “new efforts to integrate a human rights lens into export controls so as to prevent dual-use technologies and goods from falling into the hands of those that may misuse them.” Countries that have signed on to the code of conduct include the U.S., Albania, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Kosovo, Latvia, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, South Korea and the U.K.
Another new effort led by the Treasury Department will update the agency's general licenses across its sanctions regimes to "ensure that communication technology is available to people in sanctioned countries," an administration official said. The agency last year updated an Iran-related general license and guidance to expand the types of internet and communications services and exports that can be provided to Iran (see 2209230037).
Officials will discuss other technology transfer issues March 30 (see 2303270029), including during a virtual session on “Countering the Misuse of Technology and the Rise of Digital Authoritarianism.”