The European Union has delayed a decision on a plan to end encryption export regulations.
A formal announcement of the EU's removal of encryption-export barriers was scheduled for a meeting this week of the European Ministers of Foreign Affairs. But, citing too many items on the agenda, the committee postponed a decision until a June 13 meeting.
European officials recently announced that member states had reached a tentative agreement on encryption regulation.
France and the United Kingdom had long opposed relaxing the rules, but seemed willing to change their mind. They had argued it could place near-impenetrable technology into the hands of international terrorists.
The U.S. also opposed the liberalization.
The delay seems welcome to American encryption software companies that -- as of January -- were allowed greater freedom to export encryption technologies, but still remained subject to burdensome licensing procedures and controversial technical checks by the U.S. government.
Those procedures gave a competitive advantage to European encryption software providers, which the expected vote would have reinforced.
