Law And The Arms Trade

This ground-breaking book offers an extensive legal analysis-grounded in public, EU, and international law-of arms trade regulation, integrated with insights drawn from international relations. The sale of weapons and related technologies is, globally, one of the most politically controversial and ethically contentious forms of commerce. Intimately connected with sustaining repressive governments and violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, arms exports are also a central element in the economic and strategic policies of the governments of all large industrial states. They have also been the source of abundant corruption, and of serious challenges to the norms and effectiveness of constitutional accountability in democratic states. On paper, the arms trade is heavily regulated: national legislation and international treaties are in place which purport to prohibit certain transactions and limit others. Yet despite its importance, legal and international relations scholarship on the subject has been surprisingly limited. This book fills this gap in the literature by examining and comparing the export control regimes of eight leading nations - USA, Russia, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, China, and India - with chapters contributed by leading experts in the field of law and international relations.

This book provides a unique and comprehensive commentary on the Arms Trade Treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013, with several contributors having direct involvement in the negotation of the Treaty.

The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty became binding international law in late 2014, and although the text of the treaty is a relatively concise framework for assessing whether to authorize or deny proposed conventional weapons transfers by States Parties, there exists controversy as to the meaning of certain key provisions. Furthermore, the treaty requires a national regulatory body to authorize proposed transfers of conventional weapons covered by the treaty, but does not detail how such a body should be established and how it should effectively function. The Arms Trade Treaty: A Commentary explains in detail each of the treaty provisions, the parameters for prohibitions or the denial of transfers, international cooperation and assistance, and implementation obligations and mechanisms. As states ratify and implement the Treaty over the next few years, the commentary provides invaluable guidance to government officials, commentators, and scholars on the meaning of its contentious provisions. This volume describes in detail which weapons are covered by the treaty and explains the different forms of transfer that the Arms Trade Treaty regulates. It covers international human rights, trade, disarmament, humanitarian law, criminal law, and state-to-state use of force, as well as the application of the treaty to non-state actors.

The Arms Trade Treaty is the first universal disarmament treaty to control the export and import of all conventional arms. This commentary describes each provision of the Treaty, how it was negotiated, and the key challenges to its implementation.--

There are believed to be about 700 million small arms and light weapons (SALW) in the world, often contributing to highly destabilising security and other concerns in international law. This book deals with the proliferation of SALW and their unregulated trade and transfer across borders.

The Larcier Law Annotated series is a collection of texts, each concerning a specific topic. The purpose of the series is to provide readers with an in-depth overview of particular legal issues. This Law Annotated volume on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is a detailed assessment of the negotiation, content, and implementation of the Treaty. The ATT, which entered into force on 24 December 2014, is focused on the regulation of the international trade in conventional arms and the prevention of unlawful uses of such arms as well as the illicit trade and its diversion. The purpose of this publication is to provide a comprehensive commentary to guide officials, diplomats, academics and others in the implementation of the Treaty. This volume provides a systematic analysis of each article of the Treaty drawing on the negotiating history, providing analysis of the obligations and setting out implementation issues. The book describes the object and purpose of the Treaty, what are the conventional arms, ammunition/munitions and parts and components that are subject to its provisions, the prohibitions and other obligations of States Parties related to imports, exports, transit, trans-shipment, and brokering activities within their jurisdiction. Also addressed are the enforcement and other measures required by the Treaty, and the procedures for international cooperation and assistance.

For this study, a group of Russian authors were commissioned to describe and assess the arms trade policies and practices of Russia under new domestic and international conditions. The contributors, drawn from the government, industry, and academic communities, offer a wide range of reports on the political, military, economic, and industrial implications of Russian arms transfers, as well as specific case studies of key bilateral arms transfer relationships.