10. Dual-use and arms trade controls

Chapter:

10. Dual-use and arms trade controls

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2018

Author(s):

Dan Smith

Global, multilateral and regional efforts continued in 2017 to strengthen controls on the trade in conventional arms and in dual-use items connected with conventional, biological, chemical and nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. Membership of the different international and multilateral instruments that are aimed at establishing and promoting agreed standards for dual-use and arms trade controls continued to expand. At the same time, ensuring effective implementation of these instruments—and reaching agreement about what ‘effective implementation’ means—continued to be a challenge. This could be seen in disagreements between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and states about how to measure and ensure effective implementation of the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and the many reported violations of United Nations (UN) arms embargoes. The difficulties associated with ensuring that dual-use and arms trade controls keep pace with advances in technology and evolving trade patterns were also evident. This was visible in the discussions in the export control regime meetings about updating their control lists and guidance documents and efforts to regulate intangible transfers of technology (ITT).