Counterproliferation, Border Security and Counterterrorism Subject-Related Laws and Regulations, Including Export Control Regimes in South-Eastern European Countries

Each nation's laws should prohibit development, acquisition, or transfer of WMD-critical items and should make it a crime to violate that prohibition for hostile purposes. Thus, WMD proliferation should be illegal everywhere, powerfully reinforcing the norm against acquisition of such weapons as well as facilitating law enforcement and trans-national legal cooperation. Provisions applicable to threats should be harmonized. National laws should address threats and should ensure prosecution of offenders or extradition to another State for prosecution. The scope of legal jurisdiction over such crimes should broadly reach the behaviour of legal entities in trans-national smuggling and weapons development conspiracies. A priority question is precisely which activity should constitute a criminal offence. It is relatively straightforward to make the use of WMD a crime; but it will be necessary to reach preparatory steps that can encompass innocent behaviour or even legitimate scientific inquiry. Bio-terror preparations, for example, may employ the same materials, equipment and techniques as undertaking legitimate disease research. Standards must be developed to instruct law enforcers as to what behaviour merits criminal investigation to prevent a hostile attack. Similarly, legal measures must define 'WMD' items, including chemical and biological agents that are non-lethal but incapacitating to humans as well as agents that are lethal as to animal or plant life. If WMD proliferation is criminalized, each State's law enforcement officials must work jointly with their counterparts in other States by sharing information, conducting investigations, and prosecuting apprehended terrorists. State cooperation both in gathering intelligence and using that information to prevent criminal activity is undermined, however, by lack of coherent legal instruments. Currently, there is no integrated database of State laws concerning production or use of WMD; it is difficult to know what gaps exist, much less fill them. All this suggests that, to fulfil obligations under UNSC Resolutions 1540 and 1373, States must enact harmonized criminal prohibitions and authorization for law enforcement cooperation in order to establish a seamless web of security among all nations. Failure to do so implicitly poses a threat to international peace and security. One of the main issues which deserve to be further addressed and which prompts the continuation of the Southeast Europe Counterproliferation, Borger Security and Counterterrorism (CBSC) Working Group is to harmonize national laws and regulations that deal with deterring, detecting and interdicting WMD. Inventory of relevant CBSC subject-related laws of the Southeast Europe countries, including Export Control Laws was created and prepared for further consideration and harmonization by judiciary experts, with the aim to develop model laws. Let me very briefly present you the main features of the SEDM CBSC subject-related laws and regulations. This paper will present that inventory which includes the membership in the international Conventions, Treaties and Arrangements and also the membership in Multilateral Export Control Regimes of Southeast Europe countries. Also, it will be presented the membership in the international legal instruments that play an integral part in the global fight against terrorism. (author)