INTRODUCTION

Article 12 addresses a critical aspect of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT): record keeping. It provides instruction on the records of activities that States Parties are obliged and encouraged to keep, as well as guidance on the contents of these records.

Article 12 requires States Parties to maintain national records of export authorizations or actual exports of conventional arms in Article 2(1), and it encourages record keeping for conventional arms that are imported, as well as conventional arms authorized to transit or trans-ship across their territory. While the ATT does not dictate the specific content of those records, it does encourage States Parties to include information on ‘the quantity, value, model/type’ and authorizations of international transfers of conventional arms covered under Article 2(1), along with ‘conventional arms actually transferred, details of exporting State(s), importing State(s), transit and trans-shipment State(s), and end-users’ for conventional arms covered under Article 2(1).

In addition, Article 5(2) obliges States Parties to establish and maintain a national control system, of which record keeping mechanisms should be regarded as an essential component. Good record keeping will also assist with the preparation of the annual report on authorizations or actual exports and imports of conventional arms, which States Parties are obliged to submit annually to the Secretariat before 31 May in accordance with Article 13(3).