On 26 June 1997, the Council adopted the EU Programme for Preventing and Combating Illicit Trafficking in Conventional Arms, committing the EU and its Member States to take concerted action to assist other countries in preventing and combating the illicit trafficking of arms.

On 8 December 2008, the Council adopted Common Position 2008/944/CFSP defining common rules governing control of exports of military technology and equipment, which lays down eight criteria for the export of conventional arms1, establishes a notification and consultation mechanism for denials and includes a transparency procedure through the publication of the EU annual reports on arms exports. That Common Position contributes significantly to the harmonisation of national arms export control policies and its principles and criteria have been officially subscribed to by several third countries.

Article 11 of Common Position 2008/944/CFSP states that Member States will use their best endeavours to encourage other arms exporting States to apply the criteria of that Common Position.

The European Security Strategy adopted by Heads of State and Government on 12 December 2003 enunciates five key challenges to be faced by the EU in the post-Cold War environment: terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, State failure and organised crime. The consequences of the uncontrolled circulation of conventional weapons are central to four of these five challenges. Indeed, the uncontrolled transfer of arms contributes to a worsening of terrorism and organised crime, and is a major factor in triggering and spreading conflicts, as well as in the collapse of State structures. In addition, the Strategy underlines the importance of export controls to contain proliferation.

The International Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 8 December 2005, aims to enhance the effectiveness of, and complement, existing bilateral, regional and international agreements to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects.

The EU Strategy to combat illicit accumulation and trafficking of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and their ammunition, adopted by the European Council on 15 and 16 December 2005, provides that the EU should, at regional and international level, support the strengthening of export controls and the promotion of the criteria of the Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, subsequently replaced by Common Position 2008/944/CFSP, by, inter alia, helping third countries to draft national legislation on this and promoting measures to improve transparency.

On 6 December 2006, the United Nations General Assembly, with the support of all Member States of the European Union, adopted Resolution 61/89, entitled ‘Towards an arms trade treaty: establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms’. In December 2006 and June and December 2007, the Council adopted conclusions underlining that it is important for the EU and Member States to play an active role and cooperate with other States and regional organisations in the process within the United Nations to establish common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms, which would be a major contribution to tackling the undesirable and irresponsible proliferation of conventional arms which undermines peace, security, development and full respect for human rights.

On 17 March 2008, the Council adopted Joint Action 2008/230/CFSP on support for EU activities in order to promote the control of arms exports and the principles and criteria of the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports among third countries2, the last activity under this Joint Action took place on 27 and 28 October 2009,