INTRODUCTION

At just twenty words, Article 14 is the second shortest article in the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and by far its shortest substantive article. It is confined to the enforcement by States Parties of national laws and regulations implementing the provisions of the ATT and it contains no detailed prescriptions for how such national laws and regulations are to be enforced beyond the requirement that States shall take ‘appropriate measures’ to do so.

Though Article 14 does not itself elaborate detailed enforcement obligations on States Parties, it invites a constructive view of what national measures might be required to ensure effective powers of enforcement. Article 14 must be understood in relation to the preamble, the object and purpose and the substantive articles of the ATT that impose obligations on States Parties. For example:

1. The preamble emphasizes that ‘nothing in this Treaty prevents States from maintaining additional effective measures to further the object and purpose of this Treaty’ .

2. One of the principles of the Treaty is ‘the responsibility of all States … to effectively regulate the international trade in conventional arms, and to prevent their diversion, as well as the primary responsibility of all States in establishing and implementing their respective national control systems. ‘

3. Article 5 (General Implementation) requires States Parties to develop and maintain a national control system and a national control list (Art. 5(2)), and to designate competent national control authorities (Art. 5(5)).

4. Articles 10 (Brokering), 11 (Diversion), 15 (International Cooperation) and 16 (International Assistance) indicate that these obligations should be implemented through national laws and regulations and enforced by States Parties.

In addition, Article 1 (Object and Purpose) establishes that one of the main objectives of the ATT is to ‘prevent and eradicate the illicit trade in conventional arms and prevent their diversion‘. This crime prevention objective of the ATT means that States Parties will need to create the necessary legal frameworks to implement ATT provisions, and to enforce them at a national and regional level.