The United Arab Emirates announced Sunday that it will ban BlackBerry Messenger, e-mail, and Web browsing effective Oct. 11 due to security concerns.

BlackBerry data is exported and managed overseas by Canada-based Research in Motion – the only data services operating in the UAE where this is the case, the country's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said in a statement.

The TRA said it has been negotiating with RIM since 2007 in an effort to bring BlackBerry services "in line with UAE telecommunications regulations," but to no avail.

"With no solution available and in the public interest, in order to affect resolution of this issue, as of October 11, 2010, Blackberry Messenger, Blackberry Email and Blackberry Web-browsing services will be suspended until an acceptable solution can be developed and applied," said TRA director General Mohamed Al Ghanim.

In their current form, BlackBerry services in the UAE allow "users to act without any legal accountability, causing judicial, social, and national security concerns for the UAE," the TRA said.

In a statement, RIM defended its security policies.

"RIM operates in over 175 countries today and provides a security architecture that is widely accepted by security conscious customers and governments around the world. RIM respects both the regulatory requirements of government and the security and privacy needs of corporations and consumers," the company said. "RIM does not disclose confidential regulatory discussions that take place with any government however RIM assures its customers that it is committed to continue delivering highly secure and innovative products that satisfy the needs of both customers and governments."

At issue is the encryption technology used by RIM, which would prevent officials in the UAE and elsewhere from monitoring activity on its network. Enterprise customers create their own key, which is accessible only to them. "RIM does not possess a 'master key,' nor does any 'back door' exist in the system that would allow RIM or any third party to gain unauthorized access to the key or corporate data," RIM said.

RIM said the use of strong encryption technology is not unique to the BlackBerry platform or the wireless industry.

"Strong encryption is used pervasively on the Internet to protect the confidentiality of personal and corporate information," RIM said. This should give corporate customers the confidence that that "no one, including RIM, [can] access their data."

Al Ghanim accused RIM of being in compliance with similar regulatory environments in other countries, which he said makes non-compliance in the UAE "disappointing and of great concern," though he did not elaborate.

RIM said its security architecture is independent of geography and the location of its data centers are irrelevent factors.

The telecom operators that provide BlackBerry services in the UAE – Etisalat and du – were informed of the decision on Sunday, the TRA said.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at noon on Monday with comment from RIM.