Design Authority and IP Sovereignty: Eliminating Third-Country Veto Power in EU Defence

Europe’s strategic autonomy in defence now hinges on its capacity to develop and deploy military systems free from foreign constraints. As global security dynamics evolve, the European Union is enacting binding legal measures to ensure that control over design authority and intellectual property remains exclusively within the EU and associated countries. This shift reflects a structural change in how the Union understands sovereignty—not only as a matter of operational capability but as a prerequisite for unimpeded political decision-making in defence and security affairs. Fact-First Regulatory Baseline: Regulation (EU) 2021/697 (European Defence Fund – EDF) establishes strict requirements on ownership, control and intellectual property (IP) rights for EU-funded defence projects, including a prohibition on non-EU (“third-country”) entities exercising control or veto over project outputs [Regulation (EU) 2021/697, Art. 9(3) and Art. 23(2)]. Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1106 (Security Action for Europe – SAFE) reinforces these principles in the context of defence procurement loans, mandating that no more than 35% of a supported system’s components originate outside the EU/EEA/Ukraine and that contractors hold full design authority to modify equipment without any non-EU restrictions [Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1106, Art. 16(10)-(11)].