[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2627 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2627
To express the policy of the United States with respect to the
adherence by the United States to global standards in the transfer of
small arms and light weapons, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 8, 2004
Mrs. Feinstein (for herself, Mr. Akaka, and Mr. Leahy) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To express the policy of the United States with respect to the
adherence by the United States to global standards in the transfer of
small arms and light weapons, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Security and Fair Enforcement in
Arms Trafficking Act of 2004''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The global proliferation of small arms and light
weapons represents a real and pressing threat to peace,
development, democracy, human rights, and United States
national security interests around the globe.
(2) The legitimate and responsible transfer of small arms
and light weapons, and the application of international
standards and legally binding instruments to stem the illicit
trade in these weapons, are important elements of United States
foreign policy that enhance United States and international
security, strengthen United States alliances and partnerships,
and promote global peace and freedom, and are critical to
efforts to combat terrorism, narco-trafficking, international
organized crime, regional and local conflicts, and the
recruitment and use of child soldiers in these conflicts.
(3) It is in the national interest of the United States to
promote responsibility and restraint in the transfer of small
arms and light weapons, to combat irresponsible practices in
such transfers, to ensure that nations engaged in substandard
practices are held accountable, and to encourage other members
of the international community to meet, as minimum standards,
United States law and practice.
(4) In light of the cruel terror attacks on Washington,
D.C., and New York City on September 11, 2001, it is in the
national interest of the United States to take all possible
measures to prevent dangerous weapons from falling into the
wrong hands. Special emphasis should be placed on combating the
proliferation of small arms and light weapons within the
broader counterterrorism strategy, given the clear links
between global networks of terrorism, networks of the illicit
trade in small arms and light weapons, and states that harbor
and support terrorists.
(5) Small arms and light weapons are the weapons of choice
of terrorists and their networks. Because these groups take
advantage of existing licit and illicit channels, an
appropriate international response must target the suppliers of
these weapons and the brokers who facilitate illicit deals and
must shut down the networks that allow this trade to continue.
(6) United States military personnel, diplomats, and
humanitarian workers, as well as those of the allies of the
United States, are threatened by the easy availability of small
arms and light weapons in conflict zones.
(7) The proliferation and ready availability of small arms
and light weapons has been a major factor in the devastation in
Angola, Cambodia, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone,
Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Kosovo, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
Sri Lanka, East Timor, and Afghanistan and the violence endemic
to narco-trafficking in Colombia, Mexico, Thailand, and
Myanmar, and has contributed significantly to war crimes and
crimes against humanity perpetrated in Cambodia, Rwanda, Sierra
Leone, East Timor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo.
(8) The case of Afghanistan, where the Taliban and the al
Qaeda network were able to amass a small arms and light weapons
arsenal from various actors in the regional and international
illicit trade, including through links to the international
drug trade, other regional terrorist groups, and donations from
certain individuals in other countries in the region, and from
support of the civil war in Afghanistan by various countries,
clearly demonstrates how a country can become a threat to
regional and even global peace and security if it is
continuously flooded by various actors with small arms and
light weapons and if arms embargoes are systematically broken.
(9) The proliferation of small arms and light weapons
continues to threaten civilians and members of the Armed Forces
of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, undermine
stabilization and reconstruction efforts Iraq and Afghanistan,
and complicate efforts to establish effective and viable
governments in those countries.
(10) The United States and the international community took
an important step toward promoting global standards in the
transfer of small arms and light weapons in completing in 2001
the Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and
Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components, and
Ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against
Transnational Organized Crime.
(11) The United States, as a major supplier country, has a
special obligation to promote responsible practices in the
transfer of small arms and light weapons.
(12) Because semiautomatic assault weapons and related
equipment, the manufacture, transfer, or possession of which is
unlawful under section 922 of title 18, United States Code, are
easily diverted to terrorist networks, the abstention by the
United States from all transfers, for commercial use, of such
weapons and equipment would assist efforts to limit the global
proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
(13) To be successful in such efforts, it is necessary for
the United States to work with other countries to improve
effective international standards.
(14) The United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in
Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, held in New
York from July 9 to 20, 2001, represented an opportunity to
develop better national and international regulations to
control the trade in illicit small arms and light weapons.
However, the Program of Action did too little to advance
international standards in the transfer of small arms and light
weapons.
(15) At the First Biennial Meeting of States to Consider
the Implementation of the United Nations Programme of Action on
the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its
Aspects in July 2003, Assistant Secretary of State Lincoln P.
Bloomfield offered a progress report on the implementation by
the United States of the United Nations Programme of Action on
the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its
Aspects and asserted that the United States has done much to
implement the recommendations of the Programme. Nonetheless,
there is an urgent and pressing need for a greater United
States commitment to eradicating the proliferation of small
arms and light weapons.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.
It is the sense of Congress that, because of the interest of the
United States in combating international crime, preventing the
diversion of small arms and light weapons to narco-traffickers,
international organized criminal networks, terrorists, and recipients
engaged in gross and consistent violations of internationally
recognized human rights and international humanitarian law, and
promoting fairness in international trade, the United States should--
(1) support the effort to negotiate a binding instrument on
international small arms transfers, such as the global Arms
Trade Treaty; and
(2) enter into negotiations for international agreements
on--
(A) the marking and tracing of small arms and light
weapons;
(B) regulations for the activities of arms brokers;
(C) greater transparency in licensing and export of
small arms and light weapons; and
(D) the establishment of an international regime
for the destruction of surplus weapons and the security
of stockpiles.
SEC. 4. DECLARATIONS OF POLICY.
(a) Affirmation of Policy.--It is the policy of the United States--
(1) to maintain the highest standards for the management
of, restraint in, and safety in the export of small arms and
light weapons and the safety in the transfer abroad of small
arms and light weapons;
(2) to refrain from exporting small arms and light weapons
that might be used for internal repression or international
aggression or contribute to regional instability; and
(3) to increase the number of end-use checks of United
States transfers in small arms and light weapons and to improve
the quality of end-use monitoring, particularly the cooperation
between United States missions abroad and the Office of Defense
Trade Control.
(b) Continuation of Existing Policies.--It is the policy of the
United States--
(1) under section 502B(a)(2) of the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961, not to provide security assistance, including the
transfer of small arms and light weapons, to any recipient that
engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of
internationally recognized human rights;
(2) that, in an effort to protect the legitimate trade in
small arms and light weapons, and to ensure United States laws
are enforced, individuals subject to the jurisdiction of the
United States engaged in arms brokering activities register
with the Department of State and obtain a license for each
transaction;
(3) to carry out rigorous end-use checks of transfers in
small arms and light weapons in order to prevent illegal
retransfers of United States small arms and light weapons;
(4) not to authorize for export to commercial end-users
semiautomatic assault weapons, or related equipment, the
manufacture, transfer, or possession of which is unlawful under
section 922 of title 18, United States Code; and
(5) to continue to observe the ``Statement of Common
Principles on Small Arms and Light Weapons'' agreed to by the
United States and the European Union at the December 17, 1999,
summit in Washington, D.C.
SEC. 5. INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS.
(a) Adherence to Prohibition on Exports.--It is the sense of
Congress that the President should enter into negotiations with foreign
parties, beginning with the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) member states, for an international agreement not
to export to commercial end-users semiautomatic assault weapons, or
related equipment, the manufacture, transfer, or possession of which is
unlawful under section 922 of title 18, United States Code.
(b) Marking of Small Arms and Light Weapons.--It is the sense of
Congress that the President should make best efforts to conclude an
international agreement on the marking of small arms and light weapons
for international export as advocated by the Protocol Against the
Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and
Components, and Ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention
Against Transnational Organized Crime, adopted by United Nations
General Assembly resolution 55/255 on June 8, 2001.
(c) Enforcement of United Nations Arms Embargoes.--It is the sense
of Congress that the President should enter negotiations at the United
Nations level in order to improve the enforcement of United Nations
arms embargoes insofar as they relate to small arms and light weapons.
The President should propose to the United Nations Security Council the
establishment of an arms embargo monitoring unit at the United Nations
headquarters in New York.
(d) Comprehensive Agreement.--
(1) In general.--It is the sense of Congress that the
President should enter into negotiations on a legally binding
international agreement or agreements with foreign parties,
beginning with the European Union, that would comprise the
following elements:
(A) The marking and tracing of small arms and light
weapons.
(B) Regulating the activities of arms brokers,
including an international register and watchlist of
arms brokers.
(C) Greater transparency in the licensing and
export of small arms and light weapons.
(D) A prohibition against the transfer of small
arms and light weapons to recipients engaged in gross
and consistent violations of internationally recognized
human rights and international humanitarian law.
(E) Establishment of an international regime for
the destruction of surplus weapons and the security of
stockpiles.
(2) Periodic reports.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, and semiannually thereafter, the
President shall submit an unclassified report to the
appropriate congressional committees describing the progress
toward negotiating an agreement or agreements described in
paragraph (1).
(e) Implementation of Program of Action of United Nations
Conference.--
(1) In general.--It is the sense of Congress that the
President should make best efforts to advance international
negotiations to implement the Program of Action of the 2001
United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms
and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, as well as to advance and
extend the goals of the Program of Action, including--
(A) establishing national regulations and
international agreements on arms brokering;
(B) establishing national regulations and
international agreements on the marking and tracing of
small arms and light weapons;
(C) promoting greater security for weapons
stockpiles held by states;
(D) efforts to carry out more effective post-
conflict disarmament and demobilization programs;
(E) criminalizing the production, possession,
stockpiling, and trade of illicit small arms and light
weapons; and
(F) advancing the role of civil society and
nongovernmental institutions in addressing the
proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
(2) Periodic reports.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, and not later than December 31
of every year thereafter through 2006, the President shall
transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report
describing the activities undertaken, and the progress made, by
the Department of State or other agencies and entities of the
United States Government in implementing the goals of the
Program of Action, including specific steps taken to assist
other countries in implementing the Program of Action.
SEC. 6. NATO PROGRAMS.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the
President should propose at the North Atlantic Council--
(1) the establishment among North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) members of a program on stockpile
management, security, and destruction of small arms and light
weapons; and
(2) the establishment of cooperative programs on stockpile
management, security, and destruction of small arms and light
weapons with non-NATO states of Central and Eastern Europe and
the former Soviet Union.
(b) Reports.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment
of this Act, and semiannually thereafter, the President shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees an unclassified report
describing progress made toward the establishment of the programs
referred to in subsection (a).
SEC. 7. INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST THE ILLICIT MANUFACTURING OF
AND TRAFFICKING IN FIREARMS, AMMUNITION, EXPLOSIVES, AND
OTHER RELATED MATERIALS.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the
Secretary of State should encourage those countries that have not done
so to sign and ratify the Inter-American Convention Against Illicit
Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunitions, Explosives,
and Other Related Materials, adopted at Washington November 14, 1997,
and entered into force July 1, 1998.
(b) Reports.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a report describing--
(1) the activities undertaken, and the progress made, by
the Department of State or other agencies and entities of the
United States Government in prompting other countries that have
not done so to sign and ratify the Convention;
(2) the implementation of, and compliance with, the
provisions of the Convention by states that have signed and
ratified the Convention; and
(3) the recommendations made by the Consultative Committee
established under the Convention, and any actions related to
those recommendations taken by the United States.
SEC. 8. ANNUAL REPORT ON STATES THAT HAVE NOT COOPERATED IN SMALL ARMS
PROGRAMS.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act,
and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a report--
(1) listing each state that refuses to cooperate in
programs related to small arms and light weapons, including
programs with respect to stockpile management, security, and
destruction, and describing to what degree the failure to
cooperate affects the national security of such state, its
neighbors, and the United States;
(2) describing the activities undertaken, and the progress
made, by the Department of State or other agencies and entities
of the United States Government in prompting other states to
cooperate in programs related to small arms and light weapons;
and
(3) recommending incentives and penalties that may be used
by the United States Government to compel states to comply with
programs on small arms and light weapons.
SEC. 9. CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION ON CERTAIN EXPORT LICENSES.
(a) In General.--Not less than 15 days before the grant of any
license for export to any country described in subsection (b) of any
lethal defense article or defense service consisting of small arms or
light weapons in the amount of $1,000,000 or less, the President shall
provide a detailed notification thereof to the Committees on
Appropriations and Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committees
on Appropriations and International Relations of the House of
Representatives, including a statement describing the purposes for
which the article or service is being provided to the country and
stating whether or not such article or service has been previously
provided to such country.
(b) Covered Countries.--A country described in this section is a
country where there is a clear risk that the defense article or defense
service will--
(1) be used in a breach of peace or act of international
aggression--
(A) to commit gross violations of human rights;
(B) to commit gross violations of international
humanitarian law; or
(C) to commit acts of genocide or crimes against
humanity; or
(2) be diverted to commit any of the acts described in
paragraph (1).
SEC. 10. REGISTRY OF SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS SERIAL NUMBERS.
(a) In General.--Section 38 of the Arms Export Control Act (22
U.S.C. 2778) is amended by adding at the end the following new
subsection:
``(k) Registry of Small Arms and Light Weapons Serial Numbers.--(1)
The President shall require that, prior to the export of any firearm
listed in category I of the United States Munition List that requires a
license for international export under this section, the exporter shall
provide the President with written identification of the serial number
of the firearm to be exported.
``(2) The President shall establish and maintain a registry of each
serial number provided under paragraph (1).''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
apply to applications for licenses to export filed on or after the date
of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 11. STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act--
(1) interferes with the legitimate and lawful ownership and
use of guns; or
(2) limits otherwise authorized activities of the United
States Government.
SEC. 12. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on
Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on
International Relations of the House of Representatives.
(2) President.--The term ``President'' means the President,
acting through the Secretary of State.
(3) Small arms and light weapons.--
(A) Covered items.--Except as provided in
subparagraph (B), the term ``small arms and light
weapons'' means revolvers and self-loading pistols,
rifles and carbines, submachine guns, assault rifles,
light machine guns, heavy machine guns, hand-held
underbarrel and mounted grenade launchers, portable
antiaircraft guns, portable antitank guns, recoilless
rifles, portable launchers of antitank missiles and
rocket systems, portable launchers of antiaircraft
missile systems, mortars of calibers of less than 100
millimeter, ammunition and explosives, cartridges and
rounds for small arms and light weapons, mobile
containers with missiles or shells for single-action
antiaircraft and antitank systems, antipersonnel and
antitank hand grenades, landmines, and explosives.
(B) Exception.--The term does not include any
antique firearm manufactured before January 1, 1900, or
any replica of such a firearm.
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