Armament > Conference for the control of the international trade in arms, munitions and implements of war

General de Marinis (Italy) declared himself in agreement with the French delegation as to
the impossibility of the Commission drawing up a complete enumerative list of service weapons.
Colonel Lowe (British Empire) feared that the French plan of placing only the service
weapons used in the armies in Category I presented serious dangers. The result would be that
a weapon which had just been discarded as a service model by a Government would be regarded
as no longer belonging to Category I, although in practice it could only be used for purposes of
war.
Colonel Nygren (Sweden) declared himself in agreement with the French delegation in regard
to the compilation of lists. The Swedish delegation recognised, however, the force of the British
objection, and it proposed that weapons which were no longer employed in the various armies
but remained capable of being utilised for military purposes, and no other, should be placed in
a special category.
The British, French and Italian Delegations declared themselves ready to accept the
Swedish delegation’s suggestion.
The meeting adjourned to allow a new text to be drawn up for Category I.
When the meeting was resumed, the French Delegation proposed a new text.
4. Text adopted for Category I.
After discussing the different articles enumerated in paragraph (a) of Category I, the Com¬
mission adopted the following text:
“Category I. — Arms and Munitions exclusively designed for War — Assembled or
Component Parts:
“(a) All arms and ammunition which are or shall be comprised in the equipment
of the armies of the different States, including:
“Pistols, revolvers — automatic or self-loading — and developments of
the same, designed for single-handed use or fired from the shoulder,
of a calibre greater than 6.5 mm. and length of barrel greater than
10 cm.;
“Rifles, muskets, carbines;
“Machine-guns, interrupter gears, mountings for machine-guns;
“Aerial gun sights;
“Infantry apparatus for the discharge of projectiles;
“Flame-throwers;
“Cannon — long or short, bomb-throwers and mortars of all kinds
and their carriages, mountings, recuperators, accessories for mounting
and sighting apparatus;
“Torpedo tubes;
“Apparatus for the discharge of all kinds of projectiles, bombs, torpe¬
does and depth charges;
“Grenades, bombs, mines — land or sea, torpedoes, depth charges;
“Projectiles of all kinds, ammunition and appliances for the above
arms and apparatus;
“Bayonets, swords and lances.
“(6) All arms and ammunition which, after having been employed in the services
of the different States, are no longer part of their equipment but remain
capable of being utilised for military purposes to the exclusion of any other
utilisation. ”
On the proposal of the Italian Delegation, supported by the Swedish Delegation,
explosives and gunpowder were deleted from Category I in view of the practical impossibility of
distinguishing those used only for war purposes.
The French Delegation considered that there was no need to insert in any of the categories
in the list arms such as were employed in offensive chemical warfare, the use of which was already
prohibited by international law.
On an observation made by the Swedish Delegation, General Dumesnil (France) viewed
the term “pieces detacMes” as meaning “pieces usinees, pretes a itre mo'nUes”, and cannot be
understood as simply “pieces ddgrossies ou demi-usinSes ”.
The Commission accepted this view, and, on the proposal of the British Delegation, decided
that a statement should be made showing distinctly that all three categories referred only to arms and
munitions the use of which was allowed by international law.
General de Marinis (Italy) asked if it would not be better to add the word “usinees" to the
words “pieces detachdes” in order to avoid misunderstanding.
After some discussion, the Commission decided to leave the text in its present form, because,
by the words “pieces ddtachdes” one could only understand the “manufactured parts ready to be
assembled”.