Lawful by Design Initiative

Bridging the gap between industry led innovation and national legal review processes

Introducing the LBD 30 x 30 Program

Join the Lawful by Design (LBD) 30×30 Program, an initiative by Article 36 Legal, dedicated to strengthening national legal review processes for new weapons, means, and methods of warfare. This program promotes compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by supporting the implementation of Article 36 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions.

While 174 countries are party to Additional Protocol I, only approximately 20 have established formal national legal review mechanisms. The 30×30 Program aspires to increase this number to 30 by the year 2030.

If you are a legal or policy advisor within a Ministry or Department of Defence (MoD/DoD) or a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and are interested in developing or enhancing your country's legal review process, we invite you to contact us to learn how the 30×30 Program can assist your efforts.

As an incentive, the first 10 countries to join the 30×30 Program will receive complimentary initial training, advisory support, and guidance on conducting Article 36 legal reviews of new weapons, means, and methods of warfare.

What are the benefits of the initiative?

  • Integrate legal considerations early in the development cycle of weapons systems or technologies to avoid costly or ethically problematic revisions later.

  • Minimize the chances of deploying unlawful or controversial systems (e.g., autonomous weapons that can't comply with distinction or proportionality rules).

  • Promote the design of technologies that not only meet legal standards but also reflect broader ethical commitments, including human responsibility and accountability.

  • Enhance trust in new systems by ensuring they will not hinder compliance with IHL on the battlefield, thus making them more viable for adoption.

  • Encourage clear processes to support reviews and potential investigations, fostering both internal accountability and public trust.

A hand touching a plasma globe with blue and pink electric arcs.

What is the Lawful by Design Initiative?

The Lawful by Design initiative aims to bridge the gap between industry and national legal review processes by integrating legal and ethical compliance into the earliest stages of military technology design, rather than addressing these obligations retrospectively during later phases of development.

It supports and promotes national implementation of Article 36 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which requires states to review the legality of new weapons, means, or methods of warfare before their deployment.

LBD Launch Event - 12 June 2025

Article 36 Legal launched the Lawful by Design initiative on 12 June 2025.

The event was hosted by Susan Blain from Susan Blain Consulting and included an expert panel discussion by Dr Damian Copeland, Mr Laurent Gisel (ICRC), Dr Kate Conroy (QUT) and Dr Tristan Perez (Boeing Company). If you missed the launch, please see the video on our YouTube channel.

How does the LBD initiative work?

The LBD initiative bridges the gap between industry and national legal review processes by:

  • encouraging defence industry to voluntarily commit to considering how IHL impacts the design, development, and use of new technology weapons and mitigating legal risks associated with the design, development, and deployment of new technology weapons; and

  • asking States to incorporate IHL requirements in their acquisition processes by including legal review requirements within tender documentation (i.e. requiring defence industry to demonstrate their product’s ability to be used in compliance with IHL).