On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security, which also marks 20 years since the start of the annual information exchange, the year 2019 is an opportune time to reflect upon this foundational confidence-building measure within the aegis of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

This report has been developed by DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance at the request of the Swiss Chairmanship 2019/I of the Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) and with financial support from the OSCE. The report presents the findings of research on intra-State elements of the information exchange on the Code of Conduct, which analysed reporting from 2018 with the aim of developing an evidence-based understanding of the scope of responses provided by OSCE participating States.

This is intended to contribute towards efforts to ensure that the information exchange is utilized to its fullest extent as a confidence-building measure within the existing framework. For this purpose, the study examines four questions selected from the 2009 Questionnaire. An initial draft of this report, with preliminary findings, was submitted prior to the 912th Plenary Meeting of the FSC, which took place in Vienna on 3 April 2019. A full and expanded draft was presented on 12 June 2019 at the Eighth Annual Discussion on the Implementation of the Code of Conduct. Following the Discussion, the report was revised pursuant to comments and suggestions made there, before its preparation for final distribution.

The views expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not in any way reflect the official views of the organizations involved in this project, or those of their representatives.