EU Statement 

Transparency and Reporting

Arms Trade Treaty

Eleventh Conference of States Parties

Geneva, 25-29 August 2025

Mr. President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. 

The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Republic of Moldova[1] and Georgia, as well as the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement. 

Further to the ATT Secretariat presentation, we reiterate our deep concern for the low rate of annual reporting, which is the lowest recorded, following a steady decline in the reporting rate since the ATT entered into force. However, since not all States Parties who report regularly, have submitted their reports for 2024, there is still hope that rates this year will improve. We call upon all States Parties to fulfil their reporting obligations without further delay. 

The EU and its Member States attach great importance to transparency in the arms trade, and thus publish detailed data on their arms exports every year. The 26^th EU Annual Report on exports of military technology and equipment in the year 2023 was released in December 2024 and is publicly available in a searchable online database on the website of the European External Action Service. This database is a useful tool for all stakeholders, further enhancing transparency. We see benefit for such a system displaying authoritative ATT figures, and we encourage other regional and national bodies to implement similar systems. We highly commend the work of the ATT Monitor on the Dashboard and stand ready to cooperate with regard to public data on arms trade of EU Member States. 

The EU’s annual report for the year 2024 is being finalised and will become public shortly. The EU would like to emphasize that, since 2022, we remain aware of considerations regarding national security that could pose challenges to the transparency of legitimate transfers of arms and ammunition from EU Member States under the European Peace Facility to Ukraine, which aim to help Ukraine exercise its inherent right of self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Those transfers, accompanied by thorough ex ante risk assessment and post-shipment monitoring, remain fully in line with the legal obligations of EU Member States stemming from the EU Common Position 2008/944/CFSP on arms export and with obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty, as well as with the Wassenaar Arrangement Initial Elements.

Mr. President,

We reiterate our view that effective reporting by those States which struggle to fulfil their Treaty obligations could be enhanced through technical assistance combined with outreach. We see value in encouraging regional coordination through simultaneous reporting by regional States as a confidence-building measure, where lack of confidence in transparency is an issue. 

The EU would like to thank Ms. Quezada of Chile for chairing the Working Group’s meetings and guiding the discussion around clear-cut questions. In our view, the report accurately captures the works and issues to address. We support the draft recommendations and would like to comment on a few select ones.

We note the ongoing efforts of the ATT Secretariat to build competencies for reporting in a regional context. The Secretariat remains best placed to play a central role in supporting States Parties in reporting, therefore the EU fully supports the recommendation encouraging all assistance providers on reporting to inform the Secretariat well in advance of their anticipated assistance activities to allow the Secretariat to liaise with the relevant actors with a view to seek cooperation and avoid duplication of efforts. The EU supports the potential review of the Information Exchange Platform and the online reporting tool, with a view to reduce the administrative burden on the ATT Secretariat and optimize cost, where possible, while continuing to support States Parties in reporting where needed.

The EU also recognises the great value in working on synergies among different reporting resources, such as the ATT, UNROCA, national reports of governments for internal purposes, and non-governmental support. The facilitation of cross-referencing all existing sources through approximation in methodology and improvement of search tools is a truly commendable and worthwhile effort. This will result in better quality of available data and reduce discrepancies among reporting duties by States, thereby reducing the administrative burden on governments, and promoting overall transparency in the arms trade, a core purpose of the ATT. Such a topic could be further developed in discussions within the WGTR regarding the sources and means to collect data, and we encourage the involvement of all stakeholders collecting data on arms transfers in such discussions.

Thank you, Mr. President.

[1]North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.