Affirming a story published by this newspaper last week, the US government this week requested the European Union to pressure Malta and Cyprus into putting an end to shipments of sensitive goods to countries accused of backing terrorist activities or seeking weapons of mass destruction.

Last week’s MaltaToday exclusive dealt with how Maltese companies appear to be unwittingly playing a trans-shipment role for components used in the assembly of atomic, biological and chemical (ABC) weapons, as the components in question can often be applied to both the civilian and military field.

In this respect, US proposals to the US-EU counter-terrorism co-operation transmitted to Brussels this week make no qualms about identifying Malta and Cyprus as "particularly problematic trans-shipment states," while also asking the EU to utilise the accession process to "ensure that EU aspirants set up and enforce effective export control systems."

Although the document stops short of detailing the accusations against Malta and Cyprus, it calls for "improved detection and prosecution of front companies and entities involved in the export or trans-shipment of sensitive items to countries, programmes and end-users of concern, and a block on related brokering activities."

EU officials, meanwhile, said there were concerns about arms exports via the two countries, where certificates of origin or end-user could be changed. However, they noted that arms export policies remained a prerogative and a non-binding code of conduct on arms exports was adopted in 1998. Malta and Cyprus have since issued declarations aligning themselves with the criteria and principles of the code.

It is clear that Malta’s role in the trade is not one of manufacturing weapons or even their components, but rather through Maltese firms acting as middlemen in the trading of components for ABC weapons.

However, Maltese companies participating in the trade may very well be unaware of the potential of the goods they are dealing in, or that they might be ending up in the wrong hands.

In fact, most of the components in question can be used in both the civil and military field. Accordingly, the fact that these so-called dual-use goods can have diverse applications renders investigations difficult to carry out.

These dual use wares include spare parts for water treatment plants, vacuum smelters, copper compressors, ignition mixtures and - in certain specifications – pumps and spare machine parts.

While the dealing in these goods may appear innocuous enough, sources in Austria explain that investigations there have identified many roundabout deliveries that have been made through intermediary firms in both Malta and Cyprus.

Sources add that in several cases firms that were involved in illegally transmitting components used for ABC weapons technology had already attracted attention in this respect and are now being monitored by the security authorities. However, it is still not known whether the local authorities are involved in the monitoring.

In fact, a spokesperson for the Cypriot government said that Nicosia had learned of the US letter through the media and Brussels had not yet brought the issue to the fore.

Countries such as Libya, Syria, Iraq, North Korea, India and Pakistan are all known to have secret weapons programmes underway and are more interested in purchasing components for assembly than in the hard-to-procure finished products.