HCoC CHRONOLOGY

2023

• 15-16 June: The 22nd Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Ireland.

2022

• 30-31 May: The 21st Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Nigeria.

2021

• 7-8 July: The 20th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Argentina.

2020

• 12 October: The 19th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Switzerland.

2019

• 3-4 June: The 18th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Norway.

2018

• 28 - 29 May: The 17th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Sweden.

2017

• 6 - 7 June: The 16th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Poland.

2016

• 2 - 3 June: The 15th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan.

2015

• 28 - 29 May: The 14th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Canada.

2014

• 29 - 30 May: The 13th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Peru. The fourth joint press release was issued by HCoC Subscribing States.

2013

• 30 - 31 May: The 12th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Japan. Peru was elected new Chair for the period 2014-2015. The third joint press release was issued by HCoC Subscribing States.

2012

• 31 May - 1 June: The 11th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of the Republic of Korea. Japan was elected new Chair for the period 2013-2014. The second joint press release was issued by HCoC Subscribing States.

2011

• 2-3 June: The 10th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Romania. South Korea was elected the new Chair for the period 2012-2013. The first joint press release was issued by HCoC Subscribing States.

2010

• 8 December: The UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 65/73, which reaffirmed the importance of the HCoC once more. The resolution was supported by an overwhelming majority of UN Member States by a recorded vote of 162 in favour.
• 31 May-1 June: The 9th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of France. Romania was elected as the new Chair.

2009

• 28-29 May: The 8th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under the chairmanship of Costa Rica.

2008

• 29-30 May: The 7th Regular Meeting of the HCoC was held in Vienna under Hungarian chairmanship.
• 28 October: the UN First Committee voted on draft Resolution L.38 (GA/63/64) which noted that 130 states have subscribed to the HCoC and invited states that had not yet subscribed to do so. The vote was 146-1-19 with only the Islamic Republic of Iran voting against the resolution. The Iranian vote served to protest that the HCoC was negotiated outside of the United Nations and did not involve all interested countries in the process.
• 15 December: the Council adopted a decision in support of the HCoC in the framework of the implementation of the EU strategy against the proliferation of WMD.

2007

• 31 May to 1 June: The 6th Regular Conference of Subscribing States of the HCoC was held in Vienna. Chairperson Ivica Dronjic of Bosnia and Herzegovina noted that in addition to the confidence building measures and the outreach activities, he would promote the Code in the Organization of Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement. Hungary was elected as the new Chair. The next regular meeting would be held between 29-30 May 2008 in Vienna.

2006

• 22-23 June: The 5th Regular Conference was held in Vienna. As outgoing Chair of the HCoC, Philippine Ambassador to Vienna, Austria, Linglingay F. Lacanlale opened the 5th Regular Meeting of the Subscribing States to the Code with a brief overview of the highlights of the two-year Philippine Chairmanship (details in 2005 developments). The conference considered various confidence building measures and deliberated the outreach activities that would support the universalisation of the Code of Conduct. Morocco was elected as the new Chair. The new chairperson, Omar Zniber, noted that he would promote HCoC in the Middle East and Africa.

2005

• 8 December: The United Nations General Assembly at its 60th session adopted resolution 60/62 which cited the HCoC as "a practical step against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery" and invited non-subscribing states to subscribe to the Code.
• 2-3 June: The 4th Regular Conference of Subscribing States of the HCoC was held in Vienna. The main topics discussed were strengthening the promotion of ballistic missile non-proliferation, and the issue of confidence building measures, including annual declarations of ballistic missile and space-launch vehicle politics, and the universalisation of the code through outreach activities. Subscribing states also agreed on a draft text resolution for the UN General Assembly, in the hope of building upon the previous resolution passed on 2 December 2004. The Philippines was elected to continue as Chair of HCoC.
• 10 September: An HCoC outreach seminar was held in Manila seeking to heighten awareness of the HCoC and to encourage more Asian States to subscribe to the Code.

2004

• 3 December: The UN General Assembly adopted at its 59th session resolution 59/91, welcoming the adoption of the HCoC and calling on states that have not adhered to it to do so.
• 23-25 June: Vienna held the 2nd Intersessional Meeting at which the Philippines was elected Chair.
• November: The 3rd Regular Conference took place in Vienna. It was decided at this meeting that the International Code of Conduct would be called the Hague Code of Conduct.

2003

• 1-3 October: The Second Annual Meeting was held in New York, and was chaired by Chile. Members agreed to continue working on universalisation of the Code, as well as implementation issues. Annual declarations on space and ballistic missile policies were also discussed.
• 23 June: In Vienna , an ad-hoc technical intersessional meeting held by the Subscribing States reported on issues relating to the implementation of the Code, specifically annual declarations on ballistic missile and space programmes.

2002

• February: At the meeting in Paris, more than 80 states agreed on a slightly revised draft International Code of Conduct (as was agreed to at the 2001 MTCR Plenary meeting), with the hope of completing it by the end of 2002. Among the significant changes were fewer and less explicit references to existing disarmament and non-proliferation treaties, as well as the introduction of looser language with respect to the Code: "obligations" (now referred to as "general measures") and "incentives" (replaced by "cooperation" and "cooperative measures"). Outstanding issues included calls to delegitimise missiles and promote missile disarmament, the question of how to preserve the peaceful use of ballistic missile technology in space (space launch vehicles) without promoting ballistic missile proliferation, and the issue of long-range cruise missiles.
• 17-19 June: delegations from nearly 100 countries met in Madrid to continue negotiations on the drafting of the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation. At the Madrid conference, countries provided additional comments and suggestions on the revised text transmitted by France. The number of countries attending the meeting surpassed that of the Paris meeting and included states with well-developed missile programs such as China, India, Israel, and Pakistan. However, Iran, which actively participated at the Paris meeting, decided not to attend at the last minute.

2001

• September: At the Ottawa Plenary , the draft HCoC was adopted and the partners of MTCR decided that France would host a meeting to be attended by member and non-member countries early in 2002 to further discuss and finalise the draft Code of Conduct.

2000

• October: At its plenary session in Helsinki, MTCR partners issued a draft International Code of Conduct, under which subscribing states would commit themselves to exercising maximum possible restraint in the development, testing, and deployment of ballistic missiles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction. The draft Code contains principles, obligations, incentives, and confidence-building measures, including the announcement of planned missile launches, and transparency measures relating to missile policy and stockpiles. The states subscribing to the draft Code agreed to make an annual declaration with respect to ballistic missile programs, including an outline of their ballistic missile and space launch vehicle policies. The draft Code offers all countries outside the MTCR an opportunity to engage in a broader common effort to agree on an internationally binding Code of Conduct. According to the Code, cooperative measures would be arranged on a case-by-case basis between the countries requesting cooperation and those subscribing countries willing and able to provide it.

Inventory of International Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes
(c) James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies