Third Conference of States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty - EU Statement on Effective Treaty Implementation

Mr. President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The Candidate Countries Turkey, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Serbia* and Albania*, the country of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Republic of Moldova and Georgia align themselves with this statement.

Let me start by commending Ambassador Elayne Whyte of Costa Rica and Ambassador Sabrina Dallafior of Switzerland for their hard work and efforts undertaken as Co-chairs of the Working Group on Effective Treaty Implementation.

The EU considers that effective implementation, in parallel with full universalisation, is of utmost importance to achieve the objectives of the Arms Trade Treaty. The purpose of the Treaty is not to hamper the legitimate international trade in conventional arms, but to establish the highest possible common international standards for national regulation on legal transfers and to prevent and eradicate the illicit trade in conventional arms and ammunition and prevent their diversion. The Arms Trade Treaty should prevent them from being used to threaten security, destabilise regions and States, violate international human rights law or international humanitarian law, undermine economic and social development or exacerbate conflict.

The ATT sets out obligations, which States who are Party to the Treaty are legally bound to implement. As stipulated in the Treaty, implementation is a national responsibility in the framework of national control systems that States Parties have to establish and maintain. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, as States start from different points of departure, with different legal systems, arms trade profiles and administrative resources. While implementation is a national competence, the Conference of States Parties can play a useful role in reviewing the implementation of the Treaty and considering recommendations in this regard.

The Treaty's core requirement of establishing national arms control systems and national control lists is new to many States, which calls for further exchanges of good practices and possibly for the development of guidance for the implementation of the ATT.

Regional and multilateral export control mechanisms can be valuable sources for sharing information and good practices, in particular for licencing and enforcement purposes at a national level. To illustrate, the EU Common Position of 2008, which defines common rules governing the control of exports of military technology and equipment of the 28 EU Member States, has increased the exchange of information and transparency among EU Member States by establishing a notification and consultation mechanism for export licence denials. Every request for an arms export licence for an item listed in the EU Common Military List has to be assessed against the eight risk criteria, taking into account human rights and gender based violence.

A number of third countries have also officially aligned themselves with the criteria and principles of the Common Position, notably Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Iceland, Montenegro and Norway. A User's Guide to help with the interpretation of the criteria and implementation of the articles of the Common Position is available online for the use of export licencing officials. A similar system of information sharing and good practice is demonstrated by EU Member States in relation to brokering activities.

Mr. President,

The EU has a long track record of providing assistance in the area of export control, promoting universalisation and encouraging effective Treaty implementation. A new EU Outreach Programme, adopted on 29 May 2017, will provide concrete tailor-made assistance to 18 roadmap countries and 14 ad-hoc partners to strengthen their domestic capacities to implement the Treaty and bring together dozens of other countries to share experiences on a regional level. This programme, with substantial EU funding of over 7 million EUR, is benefitting from the valuable technical expertise of the German Federal Office of Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) and Expertise France (EF) who will give further information at today's side-event at lunchtime. We invite all interested countries to participate. 

Another interesting side-event took place yesterday on the ‘iTrace’ project which is documenting and tracing the provenance of illegally diverted conventional weapons and ammunition. This project, also financially supported by the EU, has provided valuable data to ATT States Parties to help assess the risk of diversion in accordance with Article 11 of the Treaty. The EU encourages all States Parties to consider ways to exchange information on illicit arms flows and diversion trends.

Let me also draw your attention to a new EU Council Decision in support of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons which will fund several activities also relevant to the ATT. Its objectives and synergies with the ATT will be presented at a side event on Thursday, 14 September.

The EU looks forward to further cooperation with interested countries and regions in partnership with civil society, international and regional organisations and other donors, in order to advance effective implementation of the ATT.

Thank you, Mr. President

*The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.