I. The Arms Trade Treaty

Chapter:

10. Dual-use and arms trade controls

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2018

Author(s):

Dan Smith

The 2013 Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is the first legally binding international agreement to establish standards regulating the trade in conventional arms and preventing illicit arms transfers.¹ Since its entry into force in December 2014, much of the focus of states parties and interested sections of civil society has been on the bureaucratic modalities of establishing a working secretariat and other aspects of treaty architecture. By the end of 2016, the ATT Secretariat had been established and the parties had agreed templates for the initial report on steps taken to implement the treaty and the annual report on arms imports and exports. During 2017 attention increasingly shifted to treaty universalization and the issue of how to measure and ensure effective implementation by states parties. Both issues are likely to prove challenging.