Today, on the eve of EU wide discussions on arms brokering, BASIC, NISAT and PRIO will be launching a major report uncovering new details of how arms dealers exploit lax laws which allow them to continue their shady activities unchecked. The Arms Fixers: Controlling the Brokers and Shipping Agents identifies the EU as a major staging post for brokering deals and outlines proposals for closing loopholes in current EU export controls. According to Brian Wood, co-author of the report, "Most Western European countries do not have controls over third country arms brokering or trafficking, no controls on their nationals or their residents".

Highlighting the urgent need for increased controls, Menzies Campbell MP commented that, "Arms brokers in Britain are driving coach and horses through current arms trade regulations. Controlling their activities provides a real opportunity to make up lost ground in the effort to maintain a foreign policy with an ethical dimension." Dan Plesch, director of BASIC, called on Tony Blair to regulate arms brokers. "The UK and EU have allowed these merchants of death to operate with impunity for too long."

However, despite scandals such as the "arms to Africa" affair, controlling brokers remains a low priority for the British Government. Likewise, despite proposals for common controls tabled by the German Government earlier this year, discussions within the EU seem to have stalled in recent months. As the EU Council of Ministers Working Group on Arms (COARM) prepares to reopen the debate on brokering on Thursday 25^th November, Roger Berry MP commented that "it is imperative that we extend the arms control regime to cover brokering," adding that he hoped that the British Government would "move swiftly on this."
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