TENTH YEAR OF OPERATION OF THE 

UN REGISTER OF CONVENTIONAL ARMS

Establishment and review of the Register

 

The Register of Conventional Arms was established by General Assembly resolution 46/36 L of 9 December 1991. Under a mandate provided by that resolution, a panel of governmental experts, appointed by the Secretary-General, elaborated the technical procedures of the Register, its scope and the standardized reporting form to be used by Member States when providing data on international arms transfers.

The technical experts also considered the mDDAlities for the further expansion of the seven agreed categories of equipment. They set out a potential list of equipment that could be considered by future governmental experts. Thus far, the Register remains confined to the seven agreed categories of combat systems.

The Register has already undergone review by three groups of governmental experts, starting in 1994, at three-year intervals. The observations and recommendations of these expert groups are contained in the following reports of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly: A/49/316 of 22 September 1994, A/52/316 of 29 August 1997 and A/55/281 of 9 August 2000, respectively. The next review by governmental experts is scheduled to take place in 2003, spread over three sessions.

Details regarding the procedures and operation of the Register can be found in the “2001 Information Booklet”, which is accessible on the website of the Department of Disarmament Affairs, http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/TransparencyRegisters/TransparencyRegisters.shtml.

This booklet is also available in hard copy in English, French and Spanish.