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Congressional Research Sern
Informing Ih legisIlive deAt since 1914
The Arms Trade Treaty
On December 9, 2016, President Barack Obama transmitted
the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to the Senate. The United
States signed the ATT, which is a multilateral treaty of
unlimited duration, on September 25, 2013. The treaty's
objectives are to [e]stablish the highest possible common
international standards for regulating or improving the
regulation of the international trade in conventional arms
... and to [p]revent and eradicate the illicit trade in
conventional arms and prevent their diversion. (Unless
otherwise noted, all quotes in this product are taken from
the treaty text or the article-by-article analysis submitted by
then-Secretary of State John Kerry to the Senate). The
United States is not party to the treaty, and the Biden
administration has not yet decided on an ATT policy.
Background
Although governments and non-governmental advocates
has discussed concepts similar to the ATT for decades, a
2004 speech by the UK Foreign Secretary is widely
credited with providing critical support for the treaty. In
December 2006, the UN General Assembly (UNGA)
requested the UN Secretary-General to form a group of
governmental experts to
examine ... the feasibility, scope and draft
parameters for a comprehensive, legally binding
instrument establishing common international
standards for the import, export and transfer of
conventional arms
and provide a report to the UNGA. Citing the group's
report, the UNGA decided in December 2009 to convene a
conference that would elaborate a legally binding
instrument on the highest possible common international
standards for the transfer of conventional arms.
After the first meeting of this conference, which took place
in July 2012, did not reach consensus on a treaty text, the
General Assembly decided in December 2012 to convene
another conference in March 2013. A draft submitted to the
2012 conference by the conference president served as the
basis for discussion. On March 28, 2013, the conference
president determined that there was no consensus on a
revised treaty text and reported this fact to the UNGA.
An April 2013 UNGA vote approved the treaty in its
negotiated form. Only Iran, North Korea, and Syria voted
against the treaty; notable abstentions included Russia,
China, and India. The ATT opened for signature on June 3,
2013, and entered into force on December 24, 2014. As of
June 24, 2023, 130 states had signed the treaty, which has
113 states-parties. The United States participated in the
drafting of the ATT and voted for the treaty in the UNGA.
The United States has an extensive system for controlling
the transfers of defense articles and dual-use items and the
ice
Updated July 24, 2023
ATT would likely require no significant changes to U.S.
policy, regulations, or law. According to the President's
transmittal message, U.S. national control systems and
practices to regulate the international transfer of
conventional arms already meet or exceed ATT
requirements.
Scope
The ATT regulates trade in conventional weapons between
and among countries. The treaty does not affect sales or
trade in weapons among private citizens within a country.
The treaty obligates states-parties engaged in the
international arms trade to establish effective national
control systems to review, authorize, and document the
import, export, brokering, transit, and transshipment of
conventional weapons and ammunition. Such control
systems are also to cover weapons parts and components
when transferred in a form that provides the capability to
assemble a complete weapon. The ATT does not cover
exports of replacement parts.
The ATT covers the following weapons:
battle tanks,
armored combat vehicles,
large-caliber artillery systems,
combat aircraft,
attack helicopters,
warships,
missiles and missile launchers, and
small arms and light weapons.
States-parties' definitions of the first seven categories of
weapons must, at a minimum, include items covered by the
UN Register of Conventional Arms descriptions. For the
last category, such definitions shall not cover less than the
descriptions used in relevant UN instruments when the
ATT entered into force. These instruments, according to the
United States, are the International Instrument to Enable
States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable
Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons, and the UN
Register of Conventional Arms.
Key Provisions
Prohibited Transfers
The ATT prohibits states-parties from approving treaty-
covered transfers in cases when the state has knowledge
when reviewing the proposed transfer that the exported
items would be used in the
commission of genocide, crimes against humanity,
grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949,
attacks directed against civilian objects or civilians](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govemht0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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