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

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185 The SADC Protocol • The State parties shall enact the necessary legislation and take other measures to establish as criminal offences, in order to prevent, combat, and eradicate the illicit manufacturing of firearms, ammunition and other related materials, and their excessive and destabilizing accumulation, trafficking, possession and use (Article5.1.). 44 The OSCE Document • The participating States shall ensure that those engaged in illegal production can, and will, be prosecuted under appropriated penal codes (Article II.2.A.). However, the manufacture of unmarked weapons is not explicitly considered as being illegal. Comparison: 1. Most of the mechanisms foresee sanctions in the case of the manufacture and trade (as well as of other illicit transactions) of firearms and/or ammunition and explosives. Some of them specify that the manufacture of and transactions involving firearms, ammunition and/or explosives that are not marked appropriately are considered illicit, and are therefore subject to the application of these sanctions; 2. The Vienna Protocol also confers the status of criminal offence on the falsification, obliteration, removal or alteration of the markings, as well as on numerous forms of complicity, assistance or abetting in these offences; 3. The OSCE Document foresees the enforcement of extraterritoriality in offences related to the illegal manufacture of small arms. 5.3 OTHER IMPORTANT INITIATIVES In this section, we present five initiatives that are neither politically- nor legally-binding, but which are important and broaden our knowledge of the current political positions, on the one hand, and on some of the existing mechanisms on the other.
186 5.3.1 European Joint Action The Joint Action of 17 December 1998, relative to “the EU’s contribution to combating the destabilising accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons” 45 does not contain any binding provisions with respect to traceability. Article 3, which deals with aspects related to this, stipulates only that “the EU aim at building consensus in the relevant international forums, and in a regional context as appropriate”. As such, this initiative simply promotes a policy with respect to those outside the Union and with respect to the member States, “for the realisation of the following principles and measures”: • In order to ensure control, the establishment and maintenance of national inventories of legally-held weapons owned by the country's authorities (Article 3.d); • The commitment to combat illicit trafficking of small arms through regional and international cooperation and enhanced information exchange (Article 3.f); • The establishment of confidence building measures, including measures to promote increased transparency and openness, through regional registers on small arms and regular exchanges of available information, on exports, imports, production and holdings of small arms, and on national weapons legislation (…) (Article 3.e). The regional registers referred to are not the systematic records indispensable to the functioning of a tracing system, but are rather registers of a general nature. Let us point out that the EU had introduced at the end of 2000 a proposed Plan of Action in the context of the preparation of the UN Conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons, 46 which foresees some interesting elements relating to traceability. Notable among them are: • The reinforcement of the traceability of small arms, by negotiating during the following years, an international convention, which will generalize, in particular, marking and registration practices, according to harmonized and universally recognized systems (Article 27); • The requirement at the national level to apply unique and reliable marking to small arms, and to keep records for a minimum of 50 years of the data necessary to subsequently trace illicit weapons (Articles 2. b and c), and covering production, stocks and transfers (Article 3.).
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UNIDIR/2002/20 The Scope and Implic
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CONTENTS Page Preface. . . . . . .
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v Chapter 4 Structures and Institut
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viii point of diversion, thus inhib
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ACRONYMS ATFUS BATF BPA CFR CFR CIC
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xiii VIN WFSA WIES WR Vehicle Ident
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2 and lines of supply of illicit SA
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4 First, if a weapon has been invol
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6 The UN Programme of Action includ
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8 1.3 MARKING 1.3.1 Introduction A
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10 uniquely identify each productio
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12 • Ensure, at the time of trans
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14 • increasing the resistance of
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16 The UN Firearms Protocol, in its
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18 component of this project is to
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20 They clarify whether a weapon is
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22 Though such systems have great p
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24 have a more prominent role to pl
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26 That said, national intelligence
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28 training and technical assistanc
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30 This highlights one of the most
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32 An international tracing mechani
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34 Some of the necessary elements a
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36 on sources and lines of supply o
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38 In promoting international assis
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40 3 Programme of Action to Prevent
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42 25 This section draws on discuss
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45 BIBLIOGRAPHY Berkol, Ilhan, Mark
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CHAPTER 2 WHAT TO MARK AND WHAT TO
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49 tracing method for all SALW (con
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51 Figure 2: : The different sub-ca
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53 In order to better grasp the pro
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55 SALW include weapons of war, def
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57 The following questions should t
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59 All of this data, while useful f
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61 2.5 WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR IN
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63 traced, but which ones? Precisel
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65 Table 1: Firearms recovered in c
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67 explosives belts and dozens of t
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69 This data provides an interestin
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71 weapons belonging to illicit cir
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73 imagine being able to effectivel
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75 case of Switzerland, it would be
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77 electronics in animal identifica
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79 based our reflection on goals fo
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81 10 Small Arms Survey, Annuaire s
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APPENDIX 1 83
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APPENDIX 3 85
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87 the army weapon is capable of au
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90 significance, hence in general t
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92 3.1.2 Sanitization Removal or ob
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94 Chinese Type 56-1 Unique Identif
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96 verify that the imported weapons
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98 weapons. There are risks involve
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100 China Type 56 Russia AK47 Russi
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102 channels, with the protection o
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104 3.1.9 Comments Countries seekin
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106 as a result, potentially tip-of
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108 2. All markings must be made pe
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110 shared encryption standard. The
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112 Domestic record-keeping varies
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114 Nevertheless, whilst the Wassen
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116 individual weapon, should as a
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118 • “Consolidation”—4 x 2
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120 With the scope of the Protocol
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122 The South African authorities a
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124 • (Tracing) Details of all st
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126 tracing Chinese weapons. Conseq
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128 circulating information by fax
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130 Tracing requests are normally c
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132 encourage countries along the t
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Page 149 and 150: 136 3. If Interpol is not up to the
Page 151 and 152: 138 which restrict the amount of in
Page 153 and 154: 140 9 It was notable during negotia
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Page 157 and 158: 144 There are other reasons as well
Page 159 and 160: 146 Laws Firearms are a durable com
Page 161 and 162: 148 This last point should not be u
Page 163 and 164: 150 the future a firearm tracing qu
Page 165 and 166: 152 There are several important ele
Page 167 and 168: 154 Canada, nearly all transfers re
Page 169 and 170: 156 accuracy and man-hour effective
Page 171 and 172: 158 industry practices. An effectiv
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Page 175 and 176: 162 manner in national (and possibl
Page 177 and 178: 164 routine stockpile management. A
Page 179 and 180: 166 International regulations on th
Page 181 and 182: 168 2. The definitions of weapons,
Page 183 and 184: 170 enable national authorities to
Page 185 and 186: 172 serial number of the firearm. T
Page 187 and 188: 174 9. Explosives: the recommendati
Page 189 and 190: 176 • The States parties undertak
Page 191 and 192: 178 • The following is establishe
Page 193 and 194: 180 International regulations on th
Page 195 and 196: 182 • The participating States ag
Page 197: 184 The Convention on Plastic Explo
Page 201 and 202: 188 years in July 2001. In December
Page 203 and 204: 190 • States must make efforts to
Page 205 and 206: 192 a greater degree of harmonizati
Page 207 and 208: 194 this may lead to the undesirabl
Page 209 and 210: 196 28 Or at least difficult or imp
Page 211 and 212: 198 49 Speech by Mr. Koffi Adjouman
Page 213 and 214: 200 in its capacity as President of
Page 215 and 216: 202 Table 1: Scope of the Seven Pri
Page 217 and 218: 204 Table 1 (continued) Characteris
Page 219 and 220: 206 Characteristics of the marking
Page 221 and 222: 208 Characteristics of the marking
Page 223 and 224: 210 Characteristics of the recordke
Page 225 and 226: 212 Characteristics of the record-k
Page 227 and 228: 214 Table 4: Comparison of the Stan
Page 229 and 230: 216 Characteristics of the exchange
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