Elaborating a Strategic Trade System of Dual-Use Items Experiences from the European Union, Morocco, the Philippines, Serbia, Singapore and Ukraine

The present publication intends to illustrate and analyse examples of dual-use trade control systems that address these questions in a balanced and efficient manner. It reflects the experiences shared by experts from the European Union and five of its partner countries under the EU P2P Programme, i.e. Morocco, the Philippines, Serbia, Singapore and Ukraine, and builds on their regular and enduring exchanges on export control best practices. This document is the result of dialogues with partners, an important contribution to the mutual understanding of various responses to common challenges and a tool for strengthening collective action against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The objective of this manual is to offer, through the experiences of the EU and several selected countries, a comprehensive understanding of the elaboration process that a state must initiate to establish or strengthen its strategic trade control (STC) system. The manual is structured into three main parts. The first one, applying the ‘3WH’ methodology developed by the European Studies Unit of the University of Liège and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, is dedicated to the general concept of the STC system. It focuses on some of the main motivations that might be put forward by authorities (why), the scope of controls in terms of items and operations (what), the actors that could draft and implement the rules (who) and finally the process followed to grant or deny an authorisation (how). The second and third parts illustrate the concepts presented in Part 1 by explaining how the EU and a selected number of states have elaborated and implemented STC systems. The selection of countries has been made on the basis of the exemplarity they might constitute for third states. Therefore, Morocco has been designated for its geopolitical dimension, the Philippines for its geographical dimension as an archipelago, Serbia for its role as a potential EU Member State, Singapore as one of the world’s busiest transhipment hubs and Ukraine as a country facing aggression and being partially occupied. The analysis for each state consists of an introduction emphasising why the state may be a useful example for third states, the context in which the state has elaborated its STC system, (c) the process and evolution and (d) the scope of the system.