On October 5, 2016, the U.S. Department of State (State Department) announced the final version of a Joint Declaration for the Export and Subsequent Use of Armed or Strike-Enabled Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) (the Joint Declaration). 44 other countries also signed the Joint Declaration, including the governments of Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Uruguay. The Joint Declaration is similar to prior confidential drafts that we reported on last month. The State Department characterizes the release of a final version as a “political commitment by its signatories that underscores growing international consensus that UAVs are subject to international law, and stresses the need for transparency about exports” and constitutes “an important first step towards comprehensive international standards for the transfer, and subsequent use of UAVs.”

To that end, the Joint Declaration recognizes the following five principles...