WRITTEN QUESTION E-3307/98

by Kenneth Coates (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(10 November 1998)

Subject: Code of conduct on arms exports

What preparations are in hand for a common system of end-use control on arms exports, with follow-up checks, for all Member States to prevent end-users from re-exporting or using arms for prescribed purposes?

Joint answer

to Written Questions E-3301/98, E-3302/98, E-3303/98, E-3304/98,E-3305/98, E-3306/98 and E-3307/98

(22 and 23 February 1999)

As the Honourable Member knows, the Code of Conduct on arms exports was adopted on 8 June 1998 with a view to setting high common standards which should be regarded as the minimum for the management of, and restraint in, conventional arms transfers by all Member States and to strengthen the exchange of relevant information with a view to achieving greater transparency within the Union.

Individual arms export decisions, and therefore the implementation of the Code, remain the responsibility of the Member States and of their national licensing authorities.

Operative provision number 3 of the Code of Conduct provides that Member States will circulate through diplomatic channels details of licences refused in accordance with the Code of Conduct for military equipment together with an explanation of why the licence has been refused. Before any Member State grants a licence which has been denied by another Member State or States for an essentially identical transaction within the last three years, it will first consult the Member State or States which issued the denial(s). If following consultations, the Member State nevertheless decides to grant a licence, it will notify the Member State of States issuing the denial(s), giving a detailed explanation of its reasoning.

The Code of Conduct moreover provides that each Member State will circulate to other Member States in confidence an annual report on its defence exports and on its implementation of the Code of Conduct. These reports will be discussed at an annual meeting held within the framework of the CFSP.

The Code of Conduct did not deal with the question of the licensed production of arms, which is separate from the question of exports. It can however be noted that the Code of Conduct provides for the holding of an annual meeting to review the operation of the Code, and identify any improvements which need to be made.

Several criteria might be relevant to the question of equipment which may be reexported or used in violations of human rights outside the recipient country's borders, in particular Criterion Two (the respect of human rights in the country of final destination), Criterion Four (preservation of regional peace, security and stability), Criterion Six (the behaviour of the buyer country with regard to the international community, i.a. its commitment to non-proliferation and other areas of arms control and disarmament) and Criterion Seven (the existence of a risk that the equipment will be diverted within the buyer country or re-exported under undesirable conditions).

The attention of the Honourable Member is also brought to the complementary measures taken against illicit transfers, in the form of the EU Programme for Preventing and Combating Illicit Trafficking in Conventional Arms.

The Code of Conduct provides that Member States will work for the early adoption of a common list of military equipment covered by the Code, based on similar national and international lists. Until then, the Code of Conduct will operate on the basis of national control lists incorporating where appropriate elements form relevant international lists.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Code, the Council is currently engaged in the definition of such a common list of military equipment. Work is yet in an early stage and it therefore not possible to prejudge which individual items will be covered.