Speaking in the European Parliament , Jude Kirton-Darling hailed today’s European Parliament vote tightening up legislation banning exports of torture equipment from the European Union - measures UKIP’s MEPs failed to support.
The new laws update the EU’s 2005 Anti-Torture regulation, introducing a ban on marketing and promotion of goods which have no other practical use than execution or torture, like electric chairs, automatic drug injection systems or spiked thumbscrews, and as well as advertising will apply to exhibitions and trade fairs.
The transit of prohibited goods via EU territory will also be banned, with couriers required to stop the transit of controlled goods - products that have been designed for other purposes, but could be used for torture, such as riot control weapons and anaesthetics used in lethal injections - if they know the shipment will end up in the wrong hands.
