ARMS BULLETIN No 18 Saferworld 12 April 2000 The purpose of these Bulletins is to provide a periodic update to European NGOs and parliamentarians on initiatives to control the supply of and reduce the demand for arms. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- France: breaking new ground on transparency On 10 March, the French Government submitted to Parliament its first annual report on arms exports covering the whole of 1998. French NGOs from the "Small arms & time for us to call the shots!" campaign have welcomed the publication of the ground-breaking report but have also expressed disappointment that the level of detail contained in the report is insufficient and does not allow the public to judge how the French Government is implementing its own arms export guidelines and the provisions in the EU Code of Conduct. The first three chapters of the report detail: i) general principles which regulate the arms trade; ii) the export criteria followed by the French Government; and iii) global trends in the arms market. The final chapter lists the number of licences granted, the value of contracts and exports in 1998 by country, breaking down information on contracts and exports in three main categories (terrestrial, maritime and aeronautical). It also provides information on the number of licences that were denied under each criterion of the EU Code of Conduct. However, the information released is scant, say NGOs, and it is difficult to assess whether arms exports have gone to countries where they might: be used for internal repression; support external aggression; or undermine development. In particular, in a joint briefing document, which contains an analysis of the government 's annual report, NGOs have pointed out that: The arms categories are too broad and no description is supplied on the type of military equipment which has been exported or licensed; The data provided does not include exports of goods intended for internal security and police use; The report does not provide information on small arms and light weapons exports; There is no information on military equipment transferred within the framework of military cooperation agreements. NGOs have called on the French Government to make good these shortcomings and have recommended a number of urgent improvements in the presentation and content of future annual reports in order to enable the public and parliamentarians to judge the implementation of the government 's arms export policy. These include: a full description of the items exported; the inclusion of a separate table with statistics on the exports of small arms and light weapons; and detailed information on the transfer of equipment as part of military cooperation agreements. Finally, NGOs have called for the timely publication of future reports as the 1998 Report has arrived fifteen months after the end of the reporting period. The full text of the French Government's report can be obtained on-line at: http://www.defense.gouv.fr/actualites/dossier/d49/index.html. A detailed analysis of the government report was recently carried out by the Observatoire des Transferts d'Armements of Lyon and it has been included in the 1999-2000 report by the Observatoire on "French arms sales". A copy of this report can be ordered on-line at: http://www.obsarm.org/ For further information, e-mail Martine Bernard at Amnesty International French Section: commsp@amnesty.asso.fr or Patrick Teil, at Agir ici pour un monde solidaire: agirici@globenet.org