Mr. Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries Turkey, the Republic of North Macedonia[*] Montenegro*, Serbia* and Albania* and the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well Georgia align themselves with this statement.

Article 6/7

The EU underlines the essential contribution that a responsible arms trade policy makes to the maintenance of international peace and security and respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. The prohibitions and assessment as contained in Articles 6 and 7 of the ATT mirror the eight criteria of the 2008/944/CFSP EU Common Position, against which applications for the export of conventional arms are assessed by EU Member States.  In order to further promote convergence among EU Member States’ arms export policies, the EU will soon launch an internal database accessible to all licensing officers from EU Member States. This database contains country pages on all potential export destinations for European military equipment and technology. Licensing officers will find relevant information in these country pages that along with relevant and sometimes confidential national sources, will facilitate their assessment of license application. The ultimate goal remains ensuring export licenses are only granted following a thorough risk assessment including against the criteria regarding international humanitarian law, international human rights law and internal and regional stability.

Among other cases, EU Member States deny licenses whenever they asses that there is a clear risk that the military technology and equipment to be exported might be used for internal repression, contribute to regional instability, or to commit or facilitate serious violations of human rights or international humanitarian law. The ATT is the first arms regulation treaty to recognise the link between conventional arms transfers and gender-based violence, mandating that gender based violence be considered in the course of export risk assessments. Its effective implementation can contribute to eliminating violence against women and girls, as set out in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 5.2.

Article 11

The EU warmly welcomes establishment of a Diversion Information Exchange Forum, a platform to deal with concrete cases of diversion, which represents an important deliverable of the Seventh Conference of States Parties. We look forward to the first formal session of the DIEF, once broad, in-person participation of States Parties and Signatories is possible. We hope that this concrete addition to the ATT Toolbox will assist States Parties in addressing diversion challenges. Exchange of confidential information amongst States Parties should help to prevent, whenever possible, exports ending up in the wrong hands. We express full confidence in the Chair of the DIEF to maintain the desired level of confidentiality while at the same time sharing relevant information with key stakeholders, taking into account the invaluable expertise of civil society.

Thank you, Mr. Chair

[*] The Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.