Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Articles 26(2) and 31(1) thereof,

Whereas:

On 12 December 2003, the European Council adopted the EU Strategy against Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (the Strategy), Chapter III of which contains a list of measures that need to be taken both within the European Union and in third countries to combat such proliferation.

The Union is actively implementing the Strategy and is giving effect to the measures listed in Chapter III thereof, in particular through releasing financial resources to support specific projects conducted by multilateral institutions, such as the Provisional Technical Secretariat of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO).

On 17 November 2003, the Council adopted Common Position 2003/805/CFSP on the universalisation and reinforcement of multilateral agreements in the field of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and means of delivery^f1. That Common Position calls, inter alia, for the promotion of the signature and ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

The States Signatories of the CTBT have decided to establish a Preparatory Commission, endowed with legal capacity, and which has standing as an international organisation, for the purpose of carrying out the effective implementation of the CTBT, pending the establishment of the CTBTO.

The early entry into force and universalisation of the CTBT and the strengthening of the monitoring and verification system of the Preparatory Commission of the CTBTO are important objectives of the Strategy. In this connection, the nuclear tests carried out by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in October 2006 and May 2009 further underlined the importance of the early entry into force of the CTBT and the need for an accelerated building-up and strengthening of the CTBT monitoring and verification system.

The Preparatory Commission of the CTBTO is engaged in identifying how its verification system could best be strengthened, including through the development of noble gas monitoring capabilities and efforts aimed at fully involving States Signatories in the implementation of the verification regime.

In the framework of the implementation of the Strategy, the Council adopted three Joint Actions on support for activities of the Preparatory Commission of the CTBTO: Joint Action 2006/243/CFSP of 20 March 2006^f2 in the area of training and capacity building for verification and Joint Actions 2007/468/CFSP of 28 June 2007^f3 and 2008/588/CFSP of 15 July 2008^f4 in order to strengthen the Preparatory Commission's monitoring and verification capabilities.

This support of the Union should be continued.

The technical implementation of this Decision should be entrusted to the Preparatory Commission of the CTBTO,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: