In 2004, in order to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1540, the European Union (EU) came into force with Regulation 428/2009 for the export control of dual-use items, which has been working to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). In August 2021, it amended the EU 821/2021 to include mandating the introduction of ICPs for exporters in the member countries in order to strengthen controls over the transfer of tangible and intangible technologies. The main contents are as follows; 1) Mandatory introduction of Internal Compliance Program (ICP): Exporters within the EU countries should introduce a transaction review procedure through the ICP in consideration of their size and organization. 2) Export control on Cyber Surveillance Items to protect human rights: In order to protect human rights and comply with the obligations of international human rights law, EU countries should implement export controls on cyber-monitoring items exported from customs zones in the EU. Cyber surveillance items are specially designed to monitor, extract, collect or analyze data such as biometrics through intrusion of information and communication systems or deep packet hijacking. However, items used for purely commercial programs such as billing, marketing, quality service, user satisfaction or network security are excluded. 3) Expansion of the Catch-all system: EU countries should utilize the catch-all system to strengthen export controls on cyber-monitoring items, including dual-use items. 4) Strengthening control over the cloud: Exporters and EU countries should extend the scope of intangible technology transfer, such as electronic media, fax, and telephone, outside the EU’s customs territory, and apply export control regulations such as general or comprehensive licenses to cloud transmissions outside the EU territory. 5) Introduction of large-scale project authorization: To reduce the administrative burden on enterprises (especially small and medium-sized enterprises) and authorities when exporters with individual or collective licenses export to one or more specific end-users for the purpose of large scale projects, provided that they ensure the implementation of an appropriate level of export controls; EU countries may introduce large-scale project license systems in the form of general authorization. Recently, there is a possibility that the ROK would export its nuclear technologies including APR1400 to the EU member countries in the midst of the EU adoption of carbon-zero policy. In this paper, we have analyzed the EU export control regulations and suggested the future direction of nuclear export control programs in the ROK.

• Jae Kwang Kim(Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control (KINAC)) Corresponding author
• Seunghyo Yang(Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control (KINAC))