The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports ("the Code of Conduct") adopted by the Council on 8 June 1998(1),

–   having regard to the Council's Seventh and Eighth Annual Reports according to Operative Provision 8 of the Code of Conduct(2),

–   having regard to the updated User's Guide to the European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports ("the User's Guide")(3), agreed by the Council's Working Party on Conventional Arms Exports on 2 June 2006,

–   having regard to the Common Military List of the European Union (equipment covered by the European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports)(4), updating and replacing that originally adopted by the Council on 25 April 2005,

–   having regard to Council Joint Action 2002/589/CFSP of 12 July 2002 on the European Union's contribution to combating the destabilising accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons and repealing Joint Action 1999/34/CFSP(5),

–   having regard to the EU Programme for Preventing and Combating Illicit Trafficking in Conventional Arms, adopted by the General Affairs Council on 26 June 1997,

–   having regard to Council Common Position 2003/468/CFSP of 23 June 2003 on the control of arms brokering(6),

–   having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1504/2004 of 19 July 2004 amending and updating Regulation (EC) No 1334/2000 setting up a Community regime for the control of exports of dual-use items and technology(7),

–   having regard to the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies, agreed on 19 December 1995,

–   having regard to the European Security Strategy (ESS) entitled "A Secure Europe in a Better World", approved by the European Council on 12 December 2003,

–   having regard to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners(8),

–   having regard to the EU Strategy to combat illicit accumulation and trafficking of SALW (small arms and light weapons) and their ammunition as adopted by the European Council on 15-16 December 2005(9),

–   having regard to the conclusions adopted by the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) at its meeting of 3 October 2005 expressing EU support for an International Arms Trade Treaty in the framework of the United Nations that would establish common standards binding on the global trade in conventional arms,

–   having regard to the entry into force on 6 July 2005 of the 2001 Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition (UN Firearms Protocol), adopted on 31 May 2001 by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution A/RES/55/255,

–   having regard to UNGA Decision 60/519 of 8 December 2005 adopting the International Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons,

–   having regard to the Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (the UN Review Conference on SALW) that took place in New York between 26 June and 7 July 2006,

–   having regard to the Commission's Consultation paper on the Intra-Community Circulation of Products for the Defence of Member States of 21 March 2006,

–   having regard to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly resolution on small arms and light weapons and sustainable development, adopted on 23 November 2006(10),

–   having regard to its resolution of 17 November 2005 on the Council's Sixth Annual Report according to Operative Provision 8 of the European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports(11),

–   having regard to its resolution of 15 June 2006 on small arms and light weapons(12),

–   having regard to its resolutions on the non-removal of the EU embargo on arms sales to China, and in particular its resolution of 18 December 2003(13),

–   having regard to its annual resolutions on human rights in the world and the European Union's policy on the matter, and in particular its resolution of 22 April 2004(14),

–   having regard to Article 17 of the EU Treaty and Article 296 of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (A6-0439/2006),

A.   whereas the year-long review of the Code of Conduct came to an end on 30 June 2005 at the level of the COARM (Conventional Arms Exports) Working Party of Member States' experts, which produced a text for a Common Position; whereas the Code has still not been adopted as a Common Position, which hinders further necessary progress on strengthening arms export controls,

B.   whereas the European Union, in light of the threats outlined in the ESS, should make every effort to act, and be seen as acting, as a responsible global actor at the forefront of efforts to combat proliferation, foster global disarmament and develop arms transfer controls,

C.   whereas the transformation of the Code of Conduct into a Common Position would mark a further step in the development of the Code, requiring Member States to align their national legislation with the standards set out in the Code; whereas, however, this is being jeopardised by some EU Member States irresponsibly linking the transformation of the Code into a Common Position with their bilateral interests in lifting the embargo on exports of arms to China,

D.   whereas developments in arms transfer controls continue to move forward at the regional and international levels, as can be seen in particular from the international ban on anti-personnel mines (1997 Ottawa Convention) and the associated decline in the number of people killed or injured by anti-personnel mines, and whereas such developments continue to require the full support of the EU, in particular after the outcome of the UN Review Conference on SALW held in New York from 26 June to 7 July 2006, and especially as regards progress towards the development of an International Arms Trade Treaty within the framework of the UN,

E.   whereas the GAERC meeting in Luxembourg on 3 October 2005 announced its support for the establishment of an international Arms Trade Treaty,

F.   convinced that an International Arms Trade Treaty is vital because of the thousands of people being killed each week by conventional weapons, because of the irresponsible arms transfers that contribute to instability and poverty throughout the world, and because an International Arms Trade Treaty would provide agreed global standards on arms transfers and help prevent weapons from falling into the wrong hands,

G.   convinced that the development and implementation of a harmonised European arms export control policy would contribute decisively to a deepening of the Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy,

H.   whereas many conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies are capable of being acquired and used by terrorist organisations or criminal groups inside and outside the EU,

I.   convinced that any EU arms export control policy must reinforce and complement the other dimensions of the Union's external action, which include the goals of sustainable development, crisis prevention, the promotion of human rights, the fight against poverty, the fight against international terrorism and measures to achieve greater regional stability,

J.   whereas the global sourcing of components, licensed production overseas and the production and export of arms by subsidiary companies are insufficiently regulated by current controls; whereas not only do all states have a duty to ensure that their exports are consistent with their existing obligations under international law, but it is also in their own security, socio-economic and political interests to regulate their exports with a view to ensuring they do not facilitate human rights abuses or fuel conflict, and do not divert resources away from sustainable development,

K.   convinced that the December 2005 EU Strategy to combat the illicit accumulation and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition supports the UN Security Council's objective, included in its President's statement S/PRST/2004/1 of 19 January 2004, of encouraging arms-exporting countries to exercise the highest degree of responsibility in transactions concerning small arms and light weapons,

L.   reminding Member States of this responsibility should any steps be taken to open up the internal European defence equipment market, and in particular should the Commission take further steps following its Consultation paper of 21 March 2006, which explicitly refers to the role of the Code of Conduct,

M.   whereas EU Member States have consistently been amongst the principal arms exporters worldwide; whereas a growing number of companies in the developing world, backed by their governments, are gaining a significant share of the global arms market; whereas national arms export controls vary among countries in the developing world and do not always include explicit criteria or guidelines for authorising arms transfers that fully reflect states" existing obligations under international law,

N.   whereas a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) indicates that in 2005 EU Member States licensed supplies of arms to, inter alia, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Indonesia, Israel and Nepal; convinced that, without more detailed and transparent information about the nature of the arms supplied, how many, to whom they were sold and for what purpose, it is not possible to conclude that the Code of Conduct has managed to stop all arms exports that are likely to be used to fuel armed conflict, human rights abuses and poverty,

O.   whereas irresponsible arms transfers continue to hinder democratic, economic and social development in many parts of the world, contribute to violent conflict and corruption, and cause inefficiency in the delivery of development aid; recognising that a clear, efficient and harmonised common EU arms export control policy, anchored in a legally binding Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, would be a decisive contribution by the EU to the objectives of the Millennium Summit and the Millennium Development Goals, in other words, to sustainable development in ACP countries and other developing nations,

1.  Welcomes the Council's Seventh and Eighth Annual Reports and reiterates the importance of annual reviews, as prescribed by Operative Provision 8 of the Code, as the main mechanism for reviewing and strengthening the Code;

2.  Welcomes the emphasis placed upon transparency by recent Presidencies (the United Kingdom, Austria and Finland), which has resulted in further cooperation between Member States in their consultation on denials and reporting on data collection, in their presentation of data in the Annual Reports, in their outreach activities with third parties and in deepening their dialogue with the European Parliament;

3.  Finds it unacceptable that no steps have been taken to adopt the Code as a Common Position despite the fact that a text was agreed by the COARM Working Group in June 2005;

4.  Welcomes the fact that on 26 September 2005 best practices for interpretation of criterion 8 (sustainable development) were agreed unopposed by the COARM Working Party and have been included in the User's Guide; nevertheless remains concerned that there has been no attempt to go beyond a collation of existing norms; calls for criterion 8 to be revised as soon as possible with a view to developing improved practice, for example by exploring the links between armed violence and development; supports the continuation of this process, with best practices being developed for the remaining criteria in consultation with the European Parliament and other interested parties;

5.  Welcomes the recent clarification in the User's Guide that agreements on licensed production overseas should be treated as an export licence; however, remains deeply concerned by past cases in the EU relating to transfers of production capacities overseas, including licensed production deals, and calls for further strengthening of provisions to regulate licensed production overseas in particular and the transfer of production capacity more generally;

6.  Urges the Member States to take the following steps to further control the licensing of arms production overseas:

7.  Reaffirms the need to develop further the denial notification system; calls again for greater exchange of information on bilateral consultation on denials and for information on such consultations to be exchanged and reported at the EU level;

8.  Calls on the Member States to pay greater attention to the background of the country receiving arms, in order to prevent them being used by terrorist groups or being put to improper use;

9.  Reiterates its call for Member States to agree on a list of countries involved in armed conflicts to which arms exports should be banned in principle, based upon a mechanism whereby a presumption of denial to such states is monitored by the UN Security Council monitoring mechanisms on arms embargoes and the EU's relevant Working Groups; with this in mind, calls on Member States to bring their policies on arms exports to the Middle East region into line with the Code of Conduct;

10.  Recommends that national export credit agencies, in performing their task of promoting government-backed private corporate investment in economically unstable regions, and especially developing countries, follow a policy not to re-insure contracts by means of loans or other types of guarantees in the event of non-payment by the recipients for military-related exports to third countries; insists that any such loans issued in the past should neither be allowed to increase the debt situation of the beneficiary country nor be regarded as official development aid;

11.  Welcomes the additional transparency in the Eighth Annual Report resulting from the inclusion of a separate section in Table A on exports to countries under embargo; calls for the Political and Security Committee to have a regular dialogue on the application of the Code and the User's Guide (in particular the application of the best practices) with regard to arms exports to countries on the Watch List (or subject to detailed analysis by the EU Joint Situation Centre); calls for the European Parliament to be involved in these discussions;

Common Position

12.  Considers that a clear, efficient and harmonised common arms export control policy, anchored in a legally binding Code of Conduct, can play a decisive role in the fight against terrorism, conflict prevention, regional stability and the promotion of human rights;

13.  Calls on the Presidency-in-office and the Governments of the Member States to explain why the Code has not been adopted as a Common Position despite the fact that the text was agreed by the COARM Working Party in June 2005;

14.  Welcoming the continued development of best practices under the User's Guide, nevertheless regrets that the failure to transform the Code into a Common Position is weakening the further development of EU export controls, especially in the important areas of intangible transfers, transit controls and moves towards further general harmonisation of EU export controls;

Dialogue with the European Parliament

15.  Welcomes the inclusion in the Annual Reports of a specific chapter on dialogue with the European Parliament;

16.  Welcomes the initiatives of the UK, Austrian and Finnish Presidencies to present their work on the development of the Code to the Subcommittee on Security and Defence of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs as well as their emphasis on transparency and dialogue;

17.  Welcomes the opportunity provided by the Austrian and Finnish Presidencies for the European Parliament's Rapporteur to engage in discussion and exchange of information at a COARM Working Group meeting on the drawing-up of the European Parliament's Report and the Council's Annual Report;

18.  Welcomes, as measures of increased transparency and confidence-building, the decision referred to in the Eighth Annual Report that each Presidency should endeavour to meet the Subcommittee on Security and Defence as well as the practice of inviting the Parliament's Rapporteur to a COARM meeting once per Presidency;

19.  Calls for the further association of the European Parliament with the process of developing outreach activities and in particular taking forward the priority guidelines to promote an International Arms Trade Treaty and developing further cooperation and consultation with interested third parties including international non-governmental organisations and the defence industry;

20.  Urges the Council to require every Member State to publish national reports meeting agreed minimum standards and to require that such reports be sent to the European Parliament and to national parliaments;

21.  Calls for an annual debate between the European Parliament and national parliaments on their assessment of the progress made by the Member States towards achieving transparency in their handling of arms exports and in the implementation of the Code of Conduct;

Temporary measures on lifting an arms embargo

22.  Welcomes the objective, contained in the Sixth Annual Report, of developing a "toolbox" and specific mechanisms to regulate arms exports to post–embargoed states;

23.  Recalls the GAERC Conclusions on Libya of 11 October 2004, which stated: "The Council recalled that arms transfers to Libya will be subject to the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports and decided that a special post-embargo arms transfers regime ("toolbox"), which is presently being developed within the Council, will apply"; calls on the Presidency to set out the status of this toolbox;

24.  Is aware of a lack of development of the "toolbox" along with a specific mechanism on monitoring; therefore recalls its previous position that thorough monitoring is necessary even after an embargo has been lifted and that there is need for a review mechanism to be set up to assess and revise the toolbox if necessary and to monitor regularly the situation in states where the embargo has been lifted, bearing in mind the reasons for the lifting of the embargo; urges COARM to review the mechanism on a regular basis and to report on such discussions to the European Parliament;

25.  Regards it as important that Member States should have the opportunity to consult each other on the licences issued for exports to post-embargoed states; calls for data to be collected and published in subsequent Annual Reports on the substance and outcomes of such consultations;

26.  Stresses the importance of improving the exchange of timely information with the European Parliament, in particular as regards licence denial and the toolbox's modus operandi;

Equal criteria

27.  Urges the Member States to apply equal criteria to the evaluation of third states when considering any restriction or embargo on arms exports on account of human rights violations or growing regional instability;

28.  Considers that the embargo imposed on China should not be lifted until there is a clear and lasting improvement in the situation regarding human rights and social and political freedoms; points out that arms exports will undermine peace and stability in eastern Asia and increase the danger of regional instability, particularly following the crisis arising from the nuclear testing by North Korea;

29.  Expresses deep concern at the blatant violation of the arms embargo by all parties to the Darfur conflict as reported by the experts sent in by the UN Security Council and the resulting escalation of hostilities there in recent months;

User's Guide - and best practices for interpretation of criteria

30.  Welcomes the ongoing development of the User's Guide as a useful and practical tool for harmonisation of interpretation of the Code's criteria;

31.  Notes the changes to the User's Guide, in particular the guidelines for criteria 2, 7 and 8; encourages further updates in line with new developments in the Code – for example, with regard to further guidelines for criteria 3 and 4; calls for respect for human rights to be used as a general criterion;

National reporting procedures

32.  Recognises that incremental steps are being taken to improve the collection and sharing of data between Member States, to be annexed to the Annual Reports, including important improvements in data presentation under the Eighth Annual Report; nevertheless calls for the quality of national reporting to be substantially enhanced in order to increase transparency and to permit accurate assessment of Member States' application of the Code of Conduct;

33.  Calls on Member States to streamline their national arms export licensing procedures, clarify the relevant domestic institutional procedures and responsibilities and eliminate any ambiguities in their systems concerning the export licensing procedures for "military" and "non-military" arms, which can be used by arms exporters to export small arms and light weapons as "non-military" arms to conflict-prone regions;

34.  Urges the Council to require every Member State to publish national reports meeting agreed minimum standards;

35.  Urges the adoption of agreed common reporting standards to which all states must be required to adhere, including standards relating to the number of export and brokering licences covered by a recipient country as well as information on licence denials, a full description of the types of equipment licensed for export, the quantity of each type of equipment licensed for export and specification of the type of end-user; urges that the funding of arms exports, e.g. in the form of state loans and loan guarantees, should in future be included in the national reports;

Intra-Community transfers

36.  Insists that strict and transparent national export controls must be maintained until all EU Member States have harmonised their national export control policies to the extent that would allow them to transform the Code of Conduct into a legal instrument capable of regulating the authorisation, management (including final destination) and verification of intra-Community and international arms exports;

Functions and content of an EU Consolidated Report

37.  Recognising the willingness of the Council to selectively take on board past recommendations from the European Parliament on improving the EU Consolidated Report, urges the Council to take the following important steps:

Incorporation of goods for re-export

38.  Calls for the removal of the new guidelines on "incorporation" and calls upon all Member States to reaffirm their commitment to apply the Code of Conduct to the export of components for incorporation;

End-use

39.  Welcomes the Priority Guideline on post-export controls and urges Member States to agree procedures for the monitoring and verification of deliveries to, and end-use/user in, recipient countries; recommends that Member States develop information-exchange mechanisms and establish a database to include information on end-use concerns in recipient countries, past instances of misuse and/or diversion, information exchange between Member States on delivery and end-use/user verification of exports;

40.  Calls for more pro-active European Union and national approaches to the control of exports and re-exports of dual-use items in order to avoid the risk of possible access to sensitive items by undesirable end-users in third countries, including non-state actors;

41.  Urges the Member States to keep the human rights situation in arms importing countries under constant review;

Outreach

42.  Welcomes the positive response to the European Parliament's call for more information to be published on the database containing information on outreach activities referred to in the Sixth and Seventh Annual Reports;

43.  Recommends that Member States actively pursue key outreach priorities and continue to use the mechanism for coordinating and collecting information on such activities;

44.  Welcomes the positive response to the European Parliament's request to the Council that it should share with the European Parliament details concerning "Troika" meetings relevant to export controls and concerning ad hoc workshops and seminars with countries such as China and countries in the western Balkans on conventional arms export controls; recommends that parliamentarians be invited to attend those seminars as observers;

45.  Calls on the Council to raise awareness of the principles of the Code of Conduct, and to emphasise the need for an international treaty establishing common principles for world trade in arms, in all "Troika" meetings and relations with third countries and with regional and international organisations;

Arms brokering

46.  Calls on Member States which do not yet comply with the Common Position on Arms Brokering to set out a timetable for their compliance;

47.  Continues to urge Member States to improve their record on the implementation of the Common Position on Arms Brokering, particularly through the development of national legislation and the implementation of planned information exchange mechanisms concerning brokering activities;

48.  Urges common minimum practice on extra-territorial controls, including the prohibition of brokering activities which violate an arms embargo, whether carried out at home or abroad; Member States should also follow the example of countries, including Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, which require a licence for brokering of military equipment carried out abroad; as a minimum, Member States should follow the example of Germany where brokering in small arms and light weapons carried out abroad will also be subject to licensing;

49.  Recommends that Member States further develop the Common Position on Arms Brokering by setting up national registries of all known arms brokers, to include information on transportation and financial services related to third-country transfers of military equipment, on the basis that such information must be equally shared between all Member States; urges that the brokering database for denials be extended to include information on the consultation on denials;

50.  Recommends that all measures be taken to avoid brokers' initiatives to irresponsibly obtain and export weapons to third parties, which have hitherto been collected in the course of ESDP peacekeeping missions and other external peacekeeping operations involving the EU and its Member States (as has been the case in Bosnia-Herzegovina);

Private security companies

51.  Notes that the United States has extended its legislation on the control of military exports to cover private security companies, and therefore calls for the EU to consider similar steps to extend the Code of Conduct so that it covers private security services; as a first step the EU could add to the Common Military List the following activities and services requiring a licence for export: armed personnel and site protection, armed transport security, military weapons and equipment training, strategic and tactical training, security sector reform, military and security consultancy, military logistics, counter-intelligence services and operational support;

Regulation on torture equipment

52.  Welcomes the adoption of Council Regulation (EC) No 1236/2005 of 27 June 2005 concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment(16);

53.  Calls for the scope of that Regulation to be extended to cover intra-Community transfers, in order to prevent any possible contraventions;

Enlargement of the EU

54.  Welcomes the fact that the Seventh and Eighth Annual Reports have taken up Parliament's recommendation that consideration be given to the best way of involving and assisting acceding countries and new neighbours with a view to ensuring the harmonisation of policies on arms export controls and full implementation of the principles and criteria contained in the Code of Conduct;

55.  Calls on the Council to publish a report on the transfer control system and practice in any state under consideration for accession status before that state is permitted to accede, and to make the advancement towards accession status of any state not meeting EU transfer control standards conditional on its coming up to those standards; wishes the transfer control system and practice to be carefully monitored in any state involved in the Stabilisation and Association Agreement process, even if it does not yet have the status of candidate for EU membership;

International processes: an International Arms Trade Treaty

56.  Underlines the need for the EU and its Member States to play a dynamic role in supporting national, regional and international processes;

57.  Calls on the Council and the Commission to set out concrete measures for implementation of the five priority areas for the UN Programme of Action (UNPoA), namely, brokering, marking and tracing, ammunition, development and technical assistance, and for the development of a follow-up mechanism for the UNPoA;

58.  Calls on the EU Presidency and Member States to match their declaratory diplomacy in favour of an International Arms Trade Treaty with assertive and determined action to implement the resolution adopted on 26 October 2006 by the UNGA's First Committee with a view to establishing an effective, legally binding International Arms Trade Treaty laying down minimum global standards for arms transfers;

59.  Calls on the Council and the Commission to include in their further negotiations concerning developments in relation to the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements the question of adherence to all EU embargoes on trade in arms;

60.  Calls on the Member States to commit themselves once more to the principle that the criteria of the Code of Conduct will not be compromised in the pursuit of broader foreign policy objectives;

o
o   o

61.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the UN Secretary-General and the President of the UNGA.

(1) Document No 8675/2/98, Brussels, 5 June 1998. (2) OJ C 328, 23.12.2005, p. 1; OJ C 250, 16.10.2006, p. 1. (3) Document No 10713/06, Brussels, 20 June 2006. (4) OJ C 66, 17.3.2006, p. 1. (5) OJ L 191, 19.7.2002, p. 1. (6) OJ L 156, 25.6.2003, p. 79. (7) OJ L 281, 31.8.2004, p. 1. (8) Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held at Geneva in 1955, and approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolutions 663 C (XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977. (9) Document No 5319/06, 13 January 2006. (10) Document ACP-EU 3892/06/fin. (11) OJ C 280 E, 18.11.2006, p. 443. (12) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2006)0274. (13) OJ C 91 E, 15.4.2004, p. 679. (14) OJ C 104 E, 30.4.2004, p. 1048. (15) For more on these additional points, see: The European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports: Improving the Annual Report. SIPRI Policy Paper No 8, SIPRI, November 2004. (16) OJ L 200, 30.7.2005, p. 1.