The modification (for the worse) of Law 185/90 on arms exports resumes in the House: civil society action against new favours for armed interests continues

Civil society mobilisation in the “No more favours for arms dealers!” campaign continues its pressure on parliamentarians to prevent the reduction of arms export controls (and its problematic consequences)

After almost ten months of standstill, the draft law amending Law 185/90 on Italian arms exports will resume from Thursday, 6 February 2025 at the Joint Foreign and Defence Committees of the Chamber of Deputies. This is an important and historic regulation (which is about to turn 35 years old) that guarantees the control of Parliament and citizens over a highly critical and strategic sector, both because of the impact of arms sales in conflicts and because of the private financial flows that feed their production and export. The rules and procedures that have regulated it in recent decades have therefore been of great importance (and have also inspired international regulations), but if the changes to the law already approved by the Senate are confirmed by the Chamber, the result will be an emptying of the law and its most important prerogatives.

These are the reasons why (ever since the presentation of the Bill by the Government, which even in the Senate imposed its position by preventing improved amendments initially also presented by the political majority) a very broad front of civil society organisations has mobilised against this hypothesis. Through a public petition, various in-depth technical analyses and concrete proposals brought to the attention of Parliament during hearings, the “No more favours for arms dealers” Campaign has forcefully demanded that the authorisation and control mechanisms for arms exports should not be worsened, while maintaining the safeguards of transparency provided for in Law 185/90.

A position that is reiterated on the eve of the new debate in the Commission, in view of which we submit to the parliamentarians involved our demands, which could be concretely realised by approving the amendments to the Bill already outlined in recent months:

• Ensure that the reintroduction of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Trade in Defence Armaments Materials (CISD), a useful forum for political accountability on arms export issues, does not turn into a pre-emptive ‘green light’ for any arms sale, but is always balanced by the technical and informed analysis of the offices in charge at the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the Ministry of Defence
• Include in the national standard an explicit reference to the Arms Trade Treaty – which was not present in the original text of Law 185/90 as it only came into force in 2014 – and its decision-making principles and criteria that take precedence over national laws, with greater normative force of an international nature
• Improve overall transparency on arms exports by making the data in the Report to Parliament more complete and readable, in particular by containing analytical indications by type, quantity, monetary values and recipient countries of authorised arms with explicit reference to the number of the MAE Authorisation (Maeci), the annual progress reports on exports, imports and transits of armament materials and on exports of services subject to the controls and authorisations provided for by law
• Prevent the full deletion of the part of the Annual Report to Parliament detailing the interaction between banks and military companies
• Prevent the elimination of the Office for the Coordination of Armament Material Production at the Presidency of the Council, the only one that could put forward opinions, information and proposals for the reconversion of defence industries for civil purposes
• Reintroduce the possibility for the CISD to receive information on respect for human rights also from organisations recognised by the UN and the European Union and from recognised non-governmental organisations

Civil society does not want to resign itself to the fact that it is only the profit of a few that should guide the choices on arms exports, which instead has important repercussions on foreign policy and human rights. And it will continue to mobilise (also with actions and events in the coming days) to stop the emptying out of Law 185/90 and, on the contrary, demand greater control over arms exports: ‘Let us stop together the irresponsible arms deals that fuel war and insecurity’.