IV. Developments in the European Union’s dual-use and arms trade controls

Chapter:

14. Dual-use and arms trade controls

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2022

Author(s):

Mark Bromley

The European Union (EU) is currently the only regional organization with a common legal framework for controls on the export, brokering, transit and trans-shipment of dual-use items and also, to a certain extent, military items. The key elements of this legal framework are the EU’s arms embargoes, dual-use regulation, foreign and direct investment (FDI) screening regulation, common position on arms exports, directive on intra-Community transfers, and anti-torture regulation. Developments in EU arms embargoes are addressed in section II of this chapter. During 2021 the EU adopted a new version of the dual-use regulation and began clarifying how it will be implemented at the national level. The EU and its member states also reported on steps taken to implement the FDI screening regulation, which entered into force in 2020. The EU and the United States took steps to develop expanded processes of cooperation and consultation on export controls. No major developments took place in the common position on arms exports, the directive on intra-Community transfers or the anti-torture regulation. However, there were efforts in the European Parliament to create a new mechanism at the EU level to inform and harmonize implementation of aspects of the common position.