The Nordic Countries and the European Security and Defence Policy

III. The record of the EUCONVENTIONAL ARMS CONTROL 241The EU, the conventional arms trade, and small arms and light weaponsThe EU is a significant actor in global efforts to address the SALW problem. Itsactivities have involved both specific measures concerning SALW and otherscovering SALW and other conventional weapons. The most important EUmeasures are the 1998 Code of Conduct on Arms Exports 28 and the 1998 JointAction on Combating the Destabilising Accumulation and Spread of SmallArms and Light Weapons. 29The EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports has the status of a politicalcommitment in the framework of the CFSP. The Code of Conduct containseight criteria that EU member states (and non-members that follow the Code)commit themselves to use when evaluating arms export licence applications.These include reference to violations of human rights, armed conflict and diversionof weapons into the hands of terrorists. In addition, the Code established acommon system for notification of and consultation on arms export licencedenial. EU member states are required to notify each other when they refuse arequest to export arms, and other states considering an ‘essentially identical’transaction are required to consult with the state that originally denied theexport licence. At the end of each year, the Council of the European Unionissues an annual report under the Code of Conduct (which is prepared by theEU Working Group on Conventional Arms, COARM, discussed below). Overthe years, this document has provided more information on EU members’ armsexports. 30The EU Joint Action was adopted by the Council in December 1998, but itwas modified in July 2002 to include ammunition. 31 The Joint Action covers thecontrol and registration of exports, transparency and the evaluation of potentialimporters. Its general guidelines state that members should ‘combat and contributeto ending the destabilising accumulation and spread of small arms’ andDemilitarization and Demobilization (Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft: Baden-Baden, 2005) and previousannual BICC Conversion Surveys; and Di Chiaro, III, J. (ed.), Conversion of the Defense Industry inRussia and Eastern Europe: Proceedings of the BICC/CISAC Workshop on Conversion held 10–13 August1994, BICC Report 3 (BICC: Bonn, Apr. 1995).28 Council of the European Union, European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, document8675/2/98 Rev 2, Brussels, 5 June 1998, URL . See also Bauer, S. and Bromley, M., The European Union Code of Conduct on ArmsExports: Improving the Annual Report, SIPRI Policy Paper no. 8 (SIPRI: Stockholm, Nov. 2004), URL.29 Council of the European Union, Joint Action on the European Union’s contribution to combating thedestabilising accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons, document 1999/34/CFSP, Brussels,17 Dec. 1998, available at URL .30 For an analysis of the types of information submitted and how member states collect the data seeBauer and Bromley (note 28).31 Council of the European Union, Joint Action on the European Union’s contribution to combating thedestabilising accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons and repealing Joint Action 1999/34/CFSP, document 2002/589/CFSP, Brussels, 12 July 2002, URL .