International Response:  Hague Code of Conduct Subscribers Discuss Implementation Measures

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Officials from countries that subscribe to an international code of conduct designed to prevent ballistic missile proliferation met last week in Vienna to discuss implementation measures (see GSN, March 31).

During the two-day meeting, subscribers to the Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation discussed the implementation of confidence-building measures as called for in the code, such as annual declarations on national ballistic missile and space-launch vehicle policies and pre-launch notifications, according to a Dutch Foreign Ministry press statement.  Subscribers discussed “practical” implementation measures and “compared notes,” a U.S. State Department official told Global Security Newswire today, adding that meeting provisions are confidential among code subscribers.

The meeting also included discussion on ways to encourage additional countries to subscribe to the code, according to the Dutch Foreign Ministry statement.  Currently, the code has 106 subscribers, with Turkmenistan and Burundi being the most recent countries to join.  A number of countries the United States believes to be acquiring or proliferating ballistic missiles, such as China, North Korea, India and Pakistan, however, have refused to join the code (see GSN, Nov. 20, 2002). 

In last week’s meeting, code adherents also discussed the relationship of the code to the United Nations.  Such discussions focused on possible ways to “advertise” the code in a U.N. forum to encourage other countries to subscribe and to promote greater recognition, the State Department official said.

The code was formally launched at a ceremony held in November at The Hague.  It calls on subscribers to exercise “maximum possible restraint” in developing and deploying ballistic missiles and to avoid aiding the ballistic missile programs of any countries that might be developing weapons of mass destruction.  To increase transparency, the code calls on members to implement several confidence-building measures.

Code subscribers are expected to meet in October in New York City, with Chile assuming chairmanship of the code from the Netherlands, according to the Dutch Foreign Ministry statement.

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