EU/CHINA ARMS: TEXT OF DRAFT EU "TOOLBOX" FOR

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 000283

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2015
TAGS: ETTC PARM PREL CH EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EU/CHINA ARMS: TEXT OF DRAFT EU "TOOLBOX" FOR
POST-EMBARGO COUNTRIES

REF: REIDHEAD/SUCHAN ET. AL. E-MAIL 1/14/05

Classified By: USEU Poloff Van Reidhead for reasons 1.4 b/d.


1. (S) Poloff was given a confidential EU reporting cable
containing the current draft of the not-yet-agreed EU
"Toolbox" for post-embargo countries. Full text of the draft
is in para 2. Council and Member State contacts report that
the French are close to agreement on this draft, which has
already been agreed by the other 24 Member States. Along
with the strengthened Code of Conduct on arms exports (which
is also still under discussion pending resolution of
reportedly "minor" UK reservations),and a political
declaration of intent, the Toolbox is intended to restrain
European arms sales to China after the EU lifts its arms
embargo. As currently drafted, the Toolbox has seven
provisions that would commit EU governments to a program of
enhanced transparency and consultation with regard to arms
sales to countries emerging from EU embargo status. It is
intended for inclusion in the Code of Conduct User's Guide
(available at http://ue.eu.int/cms3 fo/
showPage.asp?id=248&lang=en&mode=g). The Toolbox does not
ask EU governments to consult prior to issuing arms export
licenses, and it does not give any state veto authority over
any other.


2. (S) BEGIN TEXT OF TOOLBOX:

(a) "Tool box" describing procedures to be applied upon the
lifting of an embargo, for inclusion in the User's Guide

"Upon lifting an arms embargo, Member States will apply the
following set of procedures for a given period. Member States
can agree as appropriate under the actual circumstances to
cancel the application of individual procedures at any time.

1) Member States might make a statement clarifying that even
though the embargo had been removed, the criteria in the EU
Code of Conduct fully apply.

2) Member States will hold regular consultations at expert
level (COARM, the Working Party responsible for the region in
which the country is situated, HOMs in the capital) on
national arms exports policies vis-a-vis the country in
question, and consult at Council level in the event one or
more Member State consider a major change of its national
policy; Such consultations could cover which, if any,
criteria in the Code of Conduct were of particular relevance
in considering
proposed exports to the country emerging from the embargo and
discussion of any equipment of particular interest in
relation to that country;

3) Member States will notify each other on a confidential
basis of licences issued for arms exports to the country in
question on a three-monthly basis. The provisions for the
protection of denial notification information would apply
strictly to such information. The information elements to be
provided are:

-Date of Issue of the Licence

-Short Description of Goods

-Item Number on the EU Common Military List

-Quantity

- Stated End-Use

-End user Name and Address (Level of detail to be decided)

4) Member States agree to exchange information on any arms
exports licences granted for the country in question over the
previous five years. The information should include: a short
description of the goods (with their matching control list
number),stated end-use, end-user (specifying whether the
buyer is a government agency, (border) police, army, navy,
air force, paramilitary force or whether it concerns a
private entity, or giving the name of the entity directly)
and the date on which the licence was issued. This
information would enable Member States to gain better insight
in each other's export policies under the embargo and to
measure changes in total EU exports after the embargo has
been lifted;

5) Member States will review the notified denials made in the
last three years concerning the country in question which are
solely based on criterion l(a) of the Code and state whether
these denials would have been issued on the basis of other
criteria, and if so which one(s). The denial notifications
related solely to the embargo would of course be lifted if
the embargo were to be removed."

6) It is recalled that Member States will assess licence
applications for the export of dual use goods to the country
in question in conformity with Article 8 of Council
Regulation (EC) No. 1334/2000 as last amended (the Dual Use
Regulation).

7) It is understood among Member States that this set of
procedures will only apply for a limited duration to arm
exports to countries which were previously subject to an EU
arms embargo and should not set a precedent for the general
implementation of the code of conduct.

The Secretariat will ensure the issue, as soon as possible,
of a revised version of the User's Guide, containing the
above, "tool box".

END TEXT OF TOOLBOX.

McKinley

.