The Scope and Implications of a Tracing Mechanism for Small Arms ...

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it extremely difficult to retrieve information from their disparate recordkeeping
systems.
In Europe, the European Council agreed in 1991 to what is commonly
termed the “Directive” (Directive 91/477EEC). This introduced a
harmonized Community system to licence the movement of firearms and
ammunition between EU member States. As a supporting measure, it
required member States to set up the Weapons Information Exchange
System (WIES) to share information about sales and transfers of firearms and
ammunition between jurisdictions. EU law enforcement agencies also have
access to the “Sirene” database, 6 which records details of all stolen
weapons in Europe.
In addition, each member State has a designated National Contact
Point, which takes responsibility to notify its counterparts of all firearms
transfers leaving its jurisdiction (exports) and, in turn, receives similar
notifications regarding imports and firearms in transit through their
jurisdiction. EU firearms imports and exports involving Third Countries
(non-EU) are subject to the individual regulations of the particular member
State, but these are not harmonized. Consequently, with the introduction,
in 1993, of the free trade zone within a borderless Europe, the lack of
consistency between member States creates loopholes for traffickers to
exploit. It is also surprising to find in the 21 st Century that WIES is entirely
paper driven and reliant on the exchange of faxes, which are rarely
translated into the language of the receiving State.
The European Commission is currently reviewing the Directive and
intends to present (as yet unspecified) legislative proposals during 2002 to
harmonize controls taking into account the requirements of the UN
Firearms Protocol.
State-to-State and commercial transfers of military small arms and light
weapons are generally excluded from the Directive. Instead, since its
inception in 1996, EU countries have operated within the provisions of the
Wassenaar Arrangement to exchange information about conventional arms
exports. The Wassenaar Arrangement applies to a total of 33 countries
worldwide. However, the transparency measures it introduced do not
require member States to disclose specific details to identify individual
weapons by their markings; only that the transfer took place.