Security, Technology, and Cooperation: The Future of the HCoC - HCoC

Supporting the Hague Code of Conduct

an FRS project funded by the European Union

Security, Technology, and Cooperation: The Future of the HCoC

5 December 2025

Geneva

This event explored how the Hague Code of Conduct can continue to curb ballistic missile proliferation amid new geopolitical and technological challenges.

OVERVIEW

The seminar, Held in Geneva on 5 December 2025, successfully convened international experts and diplomats to address the evolving relevance of the Hague Code of Conduct (HCoC) after more than two decades. While ballistic proliferation remains a global phenomenon, the HCoC has long served to create restraint in WMD-able ballistic missile transfers and testing; however, new developments in geopolitics and technology create additional challenges and opportunities for the Code.

The event navigated the complex intersection of rising geopolitical tensions and rapid technological advancements, with high-level panels assessing the role the HCoC can play in the current context and in the future.

Featuring key figures such as HCoC Chair Amb. Alejandro Garofali and EU Special Envoy Amb. Stefan Klement, participants explored how the Code can adapt to new security realities, ultimately reinforcing its critical status as a flexible yet essential instrument for transparency and restraint.

First Session: Role of the HCoC in a tense international environment

MODERATOR:

Mr Alexandre Houdayer, Secretary General, FRS

PANELLISTS:

Amb. Alejandro Garofali, Representative of Uruguay to the United Nations (Vienna), Chair of the HCoC (2025-2026)
Amb. Stefan Klement, EU Special Envoy for Non-proliferation and Disarmament, EEAS
Mr Andrey Baklitskiy, Senior Researcher, UNIDIR
Amb. George-Wilhelm Gallhofer, Director for Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, MFA, Austria (Executive Secretariat of the HCoC)

Second Session: The HCoC and the evolution of missile and launcher technologies

Mr Etienne Marcuz, Associate Fellow, FRS
Dr Laetitia Cesari, Consultant, UNIDIR
Ms Emmanuelle Maitre, Senior Research Fellow, FRS

January
2018

Research Papers

The role of intangible transfer of technology in the area of ballistic missiles – reinforcing the Hague Code of Conduct and the MTCR

This contribution written within the specific framework of improving the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, recalls the respective roles of governments and private players as well as the universal general principles of export control.

July
2025

Other publications

Overcoming current and future challenges linked to missile proliferation: Prospective analysis and possible ways forward for the HCoC

This report, written by the HCoC Youth Group, addresses four dimensions of missile proliferation: regional concerns, transfer to non-state actors, transformation of regulatory tools, and relations to space security. It studies in particular how these developments could impact the way the Hague Code of Conduct tackles missile proliferation and proposes ways forward.

April
2021

The HCoC and Latin America

Latin America is one of the regions with the highest level of support for the HCoC. This support reflects the historic commitment of the region in favour of disarmament and non-proliferation. The remaining four non-subscribing states – Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico – have voiced concerns about the adoption of the Code outside the United Nations framework and its limited scope.