Trends in reporting

Our analysis reveals that those Member States which do produce national reports tend to provide information on their policies and structures, and to report on export licences granted as well as, to a lesser extent, actual exports.  On some other aspects of transfer control practice, however, Member States as a whole are disappointingly opaque. Very few states report on, for example, re-export, transit, incorporation, licensed production or licence revocations.  The overwhelming impression is that Member States’ reporting is failing to keep up with changes to the way conventional arms are traded and developments in regulation across the EU. The increasing sophistication and complexity of Member States’ transfer control systems needs to be reflected in the information included in national reports.