Division 4.6.1 Project objective

The project will continue to send formal trace requests to national governments, for illicit conventional arms and their ammunition, responses to which provide comprehensive information on their supply chains and identify the location and circumstances in which they have been diverted to unauthorised users. These activities aim to establish the mechanisms of conventional arms and their ammunition diversion, on a case-by-case basis and with the support of exporting states, notably Member States' arms export control authorities. Traces yield detailed information on illicit conventional arms supply networks, identify cases of unauthorised retransfer in violation of end-user agreements, flag UN and Union arms embargo violations, and alert States to post-export diversion. Above all, because national governments themselves provide trace information, the trace process provides a basis for arms control policy making.