To what extent do arms and military equipment (AME) and dual-use transfer controls in Croatia comply with European Union (EU) and international standards? This report from Saferworld analyses Croatia’s legislative framework for arms transfer controls. Croatia has introduced legislation and regulations which constitute significant progress toward bringing its AME transfer control system into line with EU and US best practice. However, there is still some work to be done and considerable challenges to overcome.
The Government of Croatia appears determined to exercise tight control over the production and sale of AME. However, this is driven by memories of war as much as by acknowledgement of the need to keep AME away from irresponsible end users. The Government has been reluctant to embrace fully EU-equivalent systems of control. Further concerns include a lack of capacity to implement transfer controls, difficult inter-agency relations, a culture of secrecy and the role of Agencija Alan. Given the small scale of the Croatian AME industry, the benefits of completing the transformation of the transfer control system would outweigh significantly any cost.
In 2002 the Government of Croatia took a formal decision to apply the criteria of the EU of Conduct on Arms Export. Implementation needs further work, however, while the transfer control regime is still too narrow in scope. Further analysis of Croatia’s legislative framework for arms transfer control reveals that:
- There is confusion regarding the remit of Agencija Alan, a Government agency whose involvement in the defence sector creates potential conflicts of interest.
- The AME transfer control function within the Croatian Government is under-resourced, with inadequate staffing levels and training.
- Formal inter-agency structures and a National Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Commission have been established. However, poor inter-agency coordination threatens to undermine processes to deal with AME issues.
- Lack of transparency is a significant problem, with much information classified by law as ‘secret defence information’. This level of secrecy cannot be justified and could undermine decision-making on AME issues.
- Border control presents major challenges, due to the uneasy relationship between the border police and Customs, capacity constraints and long and geographically difficult borders.
The Government of Croatia should review its regulatory framework to cover existing gaps and should close Agencija Alan. It should assign greater priority and resources to arms transfer control and develop a comprehensive training programme for officials and a procedure for parliamentary scrutiny. The EU should include transfer controls as a key element of formal dialogue with the Croatian Government. The international community should:
- ensure all relevant international and regional instruments and documents are translated into Croatian and made readily available to relevant national actors;
- assist the Croatian authorities in developing a set of prioritised requirements for assistance and provide assistance on the basis of these agreed priorities;
- ensure that support for transfer control improvements is integrated where possible with the National SALW Commission into the broader weapons management strategy in Croatia;
- commit to assisting Croatia in its licence-assessment process and delivery verifications where internal capacity is limited;
- encourage information exchange between Croatian parliamentarians and their counterparts from other states with experience in this area; and
- provide support to NGOs and the media in order to build indigenous capacity to analyse and monitor Croatia’s arms export controls.
