This paper, published by Amnesty Intrenational, Oxfam and IANSA, shows how the changing pattern of ownership and production since the early 1990s means that national regulations are insufficient to prevent arms from reaching the hands of abusers. Faced with an arms industry that operates globally, governments cannot rely solely on traditional export control systems; effective control of a global arms trade requires new international standards and regulations based on international law.This paper concludes that existing arms regulations are dangerously out of date and that states must agree a legally binding international Arms Trade Treaty to address the problem.