ATT Working Group

The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which entered into force on 24 December 2014, regulates the international trade in conventional arms. To carry forward its work between annual Conferences of States Parties (CSPs), states parties have established standing working groups that report to each CSP and prepare substantive recommendations.

Three permanent working groups currently operate under the ATT framework:

• Working Group on Effective Treaty Implementation (WGETI) — examines practical issues such as risk assessment under Articles 6 and 7, end-use and end-user controls, and diversion prevention under Article 11.
• Working Group on Transparency and Reporting (WGTR) — addresses the quality and timeliness of initial reports (Article 13.1) and annual reports on authorized or actual exports and imports (Article 13.3).
• Working Group on Treaty Universalization (WGTU) — promotes accession by non-states parties and engages signatories that have not yet ratified.

Each working group is led by a co-chair or facilitator, drawn from states parties, who serves a renewable term and steers informal consultations in Geneva, where the ATT Secretariat is based. Working group outputs typically take the form of draft decisions, voluntary guidance documents, and reference papers annexed to the CSP final report. Civil society organizations such as the Control Arms coalition and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), as well as industry observers, frequently submit written input.

For Model UN delegates and researchers, the working groups are where most technical drafting happens: contested questions on diversion, ammunition controls, and reporting templates are negotiated at this level before being elevated to the CSP plenary. Their reports are published on the ATT Secretariat's website and are the primary public record of how implementation debates evolve year to year.