EGADD Newsletters

International Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) Developments > 

On Monday 24th to Thursday 27th August 2015, the First Conference of States Parties, took place in Cancun, Mexico, under Mexican chairmanship and with a large participation from NGO and civil society, to try to finalize some of the details associated with the implementation of the ATT. Illicit defence materiel flows fuel conflicts and instability, cause havoc in too many countries and result in a terrible human toll. The Arms Trade Treaty, adopted in 2013 by the UN and entered into force in December 2014, can curb illicit arms trafficking with the robust controls that it mandates over arms transfers. So far, 72 States globally have ratified the Treaty, including 26 EU Member States. The ambition of the Conference to lay solid foundations for the ATT was met as it successfully agreed its rules of procedure and financial rules, common reporting arrangements for States and established the ATT Secretariat.
The conference successfully adopted all decisions foreseen for it in the ATT process. More particularly:

• The Conference of States Parties’ Rules of Procedure as well as the Financial Rules, which will be used also in the forthcoming CSPs, were adopted.
• Geneva (Switzerland) was assigned as the seat of the permanent ATT Secretariat.
• Mr. Simeon Dumisani Dladla (South Africa) was appointed as the first Head of Secretariat, for the duration of one year (until the convening of the second CSP).
• The conference appointed a Management Committee with five members – Jamaica, Japan, France, Cote d’Ivoire and the Czech Republic – to assist with the administrative tasks related to the establishment of the Permanent Secretariat and the second CSP, as seen necessary.
• The conference also adopted the provisional budget of the next CSP and the Secretariat.
• The CSP took a decision concerning elements for the programme of work for the period up to the second CSP, including holding an Extraordinary Meeting to tackle some of the remaining administrative issues. The meeting is most likely to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, in early-2016.
• Ambassador Emmanuel Imohe, of Nigeria, was designated as the
  President of the next CSP, which is to be held in Geneva in summer 2016. Costa Rica, New Zealand, Montenegro and Finland were selected as vice Presidents of that CSP.
• In addition, the conference adopted provisional reporting templates to be used by States Parties in their first submission of national reporting (both initial and the first annual) to the Secretariat. A working group was established to continue working on the reporting formats in the interim period between the CSPs.

Also in this issue of the EGAD-Newsletter-43–Sept-2015:

• International Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) Developments.
• Export Licensing ‘Agony Aunt’.
• AEB’s 6th Annual Export Control & Compliance Seminar.
• EGAD Website.
• Intra-Community Transfers Survey.
• EGAD ‘Information Pod’ at DSEI 2015.
• Assistance Sought on the Revision of the GOV.UK Website.

Report of the House of Commons Committee on Arms Export Controls > 

On Friday 20th March 2015, the House of Commons Committee on Arms Export Controls (otherwise affectionately known as the CAEC – www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees – a -z/other – committees/committee -on -arms -export -controls/) published its latest report on UK export controls, in 3 volumes.

Volume 1 (58 pages) 2nd Joint Report; 10th Report of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee; 9th Report of the Defence Committee; 11th Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee; 11th Report of the International Development Committee – Session 2014 -15, HC 608 | Published 20 March 2015 www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmquad/608/608.pdf;

Volume II: Memorandum from the Chairman of the Committee HC 608, www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmquad/608/608ii.pdf (642 pages!); Volume III – Oral and Written Evidence, HC 608, www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmquad/608/608ii.pdf (480 pages!)

Of particular interest to EGAD may be the section on organisational and operational issues including the Committee asking whether the Government will “engage in detailed and constructive discussions with EGAD to establish whether EGAD’s frustrations in dealing with ECO, as recounted to the Committees, are historic or current, and, if the latter, whether it will take the earliest possible steps to try to resolve them”.

It is noticeable that there has been remarkably little media coverage of the release of the CAEC’s latest report, in comparison to the publication of previous reports. The Independent has run a story on the report (www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/government-accused -of -allowing – arms -manufacturers -to -export -in -secret -10120718.html) – but, other than that, the report appears to have received little media coverage, outside of the “usual suspects”, including CAAT (www.caat.org.uk/media/press -releases/2015 -03 – 19 ), Russia Today (http://rt.com/uk/243085 -uk -arms -human -rights/) and a number of Iran -related media outlets!

Also in this issue of the EGAD-Newsletter-42–April-2015:

• Executive Committee News
• Export Licensing ‘Agony Aunt’
• US Export Control Workshop – ‘The ITAR Virus EARvolves!’
• TechUK Report on Export Licensing
• Evidence of UK Government Lack of Coordination
• Evidence to the US Government on US Export Control Reform