Norwegian universities fear EU exclusion under technology rules

Norwegian universities fear that new export control rules could lead to their exclusion from some European Union collaborations.

Technologies with military or other potentially nefarious applications require government authorisation before they can be sent abroad, creating paperwork for collaborative research.

A government consultation on the draft rules has provoked strong reactions from universities. The University and College Council (UHR), which represents 32 institutions, said such regulations would have a “very negative impact” on international cooperation and would create a “strong encroachment on scientific freedom”.

The draft rules do not make clear whether departments can continue to assess for themselves whether a given technology requires an export licence, or whether they must routinely make lengthy applications to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if there is any uncertainty, according to a submission from the University of Oslo.

“The way the consultation draft can be read, it will prevent [EU] applications from Norwegian institutions in a number of major subject areas,” the university says, referring to inorganic chemistry as an example.

“We need to have that clarity, and then it’s extremely important that we have the same rules as the rest of Europe, because if we go into a Horizon Europe project and we have five other partners from all over the world, how are we going to control that the projects we are involved in…follow the same type of rules?” said Svein Stølen, Oslo’s rector.

“They have a really expansive definition of knowledge transfer because it means any form of oral or written sharing of knowledge. That means it’s hard to go to a conference; it’s hard to put in a proposal,” he said, even while acknowledging that “we need to be more careful than we’ve been previously”.

Olav Bolland, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), said existing rules were “very general”. “There is a grey area. I think if you’re not aware, there could be room, in general, for misunderstanding or misjudgement if it’s necessary to apply for an export licence,” he said.

“The new export control rules will require much more work, much more bureaucracy and much more activity when we have to apply for export control licences.”

As officials mull Norway’s new rules, a former NTNU professor faces trial and up to a decade behind bars after he allegedly allowed four Iranian PhD students to use a university laboratory without departmental permission.

Afrooz Barnoush is suspected of allowing three students to use a scanning electron microscope to examine alloys and minerals with potential military applications, according to court documents. He is also charged with breaching a computer system and allowing a fourth student to access the microscope remotely after they had been banned from the lab by the institute’s management.

“He cannot understand that the actual projects require any special licence or other treatment,” said Dr Barnoush’s lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, who described the current sanction rules as a “mess” that “bear clear signs of being the result of political thinking”.

Professor Bolland, who reported Dr Barnoush to the police, said: “Things are becoming stricter, and I think that has increased awareness, as a result of what is happening now both with the trial and with these new export control rules.”

Would he accept stricter rules if they brought more clarity for researchers? “If it brings clarity, yes. But it remains to be seen if that will be the case.”

The ministry is currently considering responses to the consultation. Dr Barnoush’s trial was due to run until 30 September.

ben.upton@timeshighereducation.com