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

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The participating States agree to cooperate with each other on the basis
of customary diplomatic procedures or relevant agreements and with
intergovernmental organizations such as Interpol, in tracing illegal small
arms. Such cooperation will include making available, upon request,
relevant information to the investigating authorities of other participating
States. They will also encourage and facilitate regional, sub-regional and
national training programmes and joint training exercises for law
enforcement, customs and other appropriate officials in the small arms
field’ (III.E.4).
Participating States also:
agree to share, in conformity with their national laws, and on a
confidential basis through appropriate and established channels (for
example Interpol, police forces and customs agencies) information on
seizures of illicitly trafficked small arms, including the quantity and type
or weapons seized, their markings and details of their subsequent
disposal (III.E.6 (ii)).
In addition, the OSCE document includes a number of information
exchange and transparency arrangements that, although not directly
relevant, should contribute to a climate that encourages cooperation in
tracing.
The SADC Protocol also commits States parties “to establish
appropriate mechanisms for cooperation among law enforcement agencies
... to promote effective implementation of this Protocol”, including systems
for rapid information exchange, promotion of cooperation with
international organizations such as Interpol and the World Customs
Organization, and the use of existing data-bases (Article 15). It also
establishes helpful information exchange systems and mutual assistance
arrangements (e.g. Articles 14 and 16).
These regional agreements reinforce the recently established global
standards and norms described above, while providing a framework for
improving capacity in weapons tracing at the regional level. Thus, in the
Americas, the SALSA initiative described in section 1.4 will be linked to a
parallel system called FASTRACS, which will give law enforcement agencies
in the region confidential access to the network for purposes of tracking the
movement of specific weapons.