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Under its Common Foreign and Security Policy the European Union has adopted a series of criteria to guide Member States' decisions when deciding whether to grant an export licence, to minimise the evil effects of arms sales. The article reviews the history and substance of these criteria, their place within the unique EU constitutional structure, their implementation, possible enforceability at national and Union level and practical effectiveness. It advocates strengthening the criteria with specified additions and concludes, broadly, that the relationship between the central authority and the Member States, which is particularly complex and fluid in relation to matters coming under the CFSP, combined with countervailing economic and political considerations, have limited the effectiveness of the criteria, though not neutered them entirely.
