On 9 July 1990, the Parliament passed the Law introducing “New provisions on controlling the export, import and transit of military goods”. The Law – one of the world’s strictest – almost thirty years later it is making headlines once again.

1. Export, Import, and
Transit of military
goods
Laws and politics
November 2019

2. A great social achievement
On 9 July 1990, after an extraordinary mobilisation of civil society (it is worth mentioning the “Against
Death Dealers” campaign), the Parliament passed the Law introducing “New provisions on controlling
the export, import and transit of military goods”. The days of barely regulated export are over.
The Law – one of the world’s strictest – lays down clear limitations.
Almost thirty years later, after several amendments to incorporate EU legislation, it is making
headlines once again.

3. EU AND Turkey
9 octoBER 2019
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the launch
of a military operation against Kurdish fighters in north-eastern
Syria.
14 octoBER 2019
The Council of the European Union unanimously condemned
the attack, but came up short of reaching an agreement on the
measures to adopt against Turkey, as the Italian government
had called for.

4. Individual Member States take
the initiative
Funding from the EU to Turkey within the framework of the
Neighbourhood and Enlargement Policy was not halted, nor was it
decided to ban the sale of military goods to the Turkish government.
Nonetheless, several EU Member States took the initiative, declaring
their intention of stopping military goods exports to the Anatolian
peninsula.
Among these are France, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom
and the Netherlands.

5. What about Italy?
Italy is one of the leading military goods exporters to Turkey, which in turn is the third-largest buyer of
Italian weapons in the world after Qatar and Pakistan.
After summoning the Turkish Ambassador to Italy, on 15 October Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi Di Maio
announced a decree to block
arms export to Turkey as far as future contracts
and future commitments are concerned.

6. In other words, the Government announced that it will not authorise Italian manufacturers to sell weapons to Turkey, but
also that it will not grant any licence for weapon transit towards Turkey.
What
legislation governs weapon
transit and export in Italy
Laws and market
WHO
grants licences?
WHO
is in charge of
the surveillance?
Let’s take a closer look.

7. It puts the entire sector under the constant surveillance of
government authorities which authorise and oversee its various
phases, from manufacturing to transit, all the way to export.
It is a very sensitive sector, indeed. Similar legislation to Italy’s is
enforced in many Western Countries, as well as obviously within
the EU.
Besides ordinary market dynamics, military goods export and
transit require negotiations between manufacturers and foreign
governments, with foreign policy and national security
considerations taking centre stage.
The logic behind Law 185/1990

8. PRINcIPLES
First and foremost, Law 185/1990 provides that imports, exports,
transit, and licence granting for military goods must
be in line with Italy’s foreign and defence policies
respect the principles laid down in the Republican
Constitution that reject war as a means of settling
international disputes (art. 1, par. 1).
But not only that.

9. Art. 51 of the UN Charter
In fact, arms export and transit are prohibited
to countries engaged in armed conflict, in violation of
the principles laid down in Article 51 of the United Nations
Charter, except for Italy’s international obligations or any
other decision of the Council of Ministers, to be adopted
afterhearing the opinion of the Chambers of Parliament
(art. 1, par. 6, letter a).
Art. 51 recognises the right of a State to use force in case
of self-defence.
In other words, Law 185/1990 forbids the sale of weapons to
countries waging war for reasons other than self-protection.

10. Who manufactureS…
Military goods can be sold abroad only
to foreign governments or companies
authorised by the government of the
receiving country (art. 1, par. 4).
… AND WHO BUYS
Manufacturers must be authorised
by the Government: in fact, import,
export, transit, and licence granting for
the production of military goods are
activities which must be
authorised and controlled
by the State (art. 1, par. 2).
In order to receive the licence allowing
them to produce and export military
goods, manufacturing companies and
companies transferring military goods
must be registered in the National
Trade Register at the Secretariat-
General of Defence.
Among the necessary
requirements to be listed on the
Register – pursuant to
Legislative Decree 66/2010 –
Italian citizenship of the
entrepreneur or of the
company’s legal representatives,
or their residence in Italy,
provided that they are citizens of
a country which is bound to Italy
by a judicial cooperation treaty, is
particularly important.
REQUIREMENTS

11. Restrictions
In addition to countries at war falling beyond the scope of art. 51 of the
UN Charter, art. 1, par. 6, provides that arms exports to be banned
towards countries:
• whose policies are in contrast with the principles laid down in Article
11 of the Constitution;
• against which the UN, the EU or OSCE have called a total or partial
embargo on the supply of military items;
• whose governments are responsible of serious violations of
international conventions on human rights; or
• allocating the resources in excess of their country’s defence
spending needs to their military budget.

12. The inspector
In 2012, the National Authority-UAMA (Military Goods Licence Unit) was established to ensure the application of Italian
legislation, integrated by European and International rules.
1 Decree-Law 21/2012 converted into Law 56/2012, as amended by
Conversion Law 172/2017; Decree of the President of the Council of
Ministers of 6 August 2014.
The National Authority-UAMA conducts a rigorous and
thorough examination on a case-by-case basis of the
requests submitted by companies to receive licences
for the export of military equipment, whether it be
tangible or intangible, based on national and
international legislation.
The authorisation process for non-EU/non-NATO
countries involves several Ministries and Agencies.
The National Authority-UAMA participates in the
coordination group of the Presidency of the Council
of Ministers for Golden Power1, exclusively when
discussing strategic defence issues, with a view to
ensuring compliance with Law 185/1990 as amended
and, if necessary, the enforceability of the relevant
provisions of the Decrees of the President of the
Council of Ministers.
THe GOLDEN POWER
the requests

13. 2018
The Report
The government’s Report on 2018 activities in this sector was presented to Parliament
on 5 April 2019.
According to the latest data, in 2018 the Government authorised military equipment exports
for a total value of !5.2 billion, approximately a 53% decrease compared to 2017.
The document includes data and revenues pertaining to three fundamental pieces of information:
! the most exported type of military equipment;
! receiving countries;
! Italian exporting companies.
Every year by 31 March, the Italian Government shall present to Parliament a Report on the authorised activities carried out
in the previous year.
The Report is presented by the President of the Council of Ministers, who is in charge of gathering information provided
by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Defence, Economy and Finance, and Economic Development.

14. Gov-to-Gov or G2G is defined as the sale of goods or services
from government to government as opposed to the sales from
businesses to government.
In the defence and security sector, G2G is used because it
inherently ensures relation stability, management simplification,
and absence of middlemen.
G2G takes the form of the signing of a contract between two
Ministers instead of between a Minister and a CEO.
What’s in right now:
Government to Government

15. Art. 55 of the 2020 Fiscal Decree introducing “measures to encourage the competitiveness of
Italian businesses” amends art. 537-ter of the military code on G2G. In accordance with its new
text, the Ministry of Defence,
in compliance with the principles, norms, and procedures
on military equipment export
in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
may meet the supply needs of foreign States with which there are
technical-military cooperation or mutual assistance agreements
and may carry out, also through its own departments
pre-contractual, contractual, and technical-administrative support activities
for the acquisition of military equipment produced by the national industry
[…] requested by said States
the 2020 Fiscal Decree

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