Latin America and the Caribbean
Source tier A. Conventions checked 2026-07-29.
Drug and firearms law in Ecuador: statutes on record and in force
Ecuador, in Latin America and the Caribbean, is party to all four of the instruments tracked here, the last of them since 2013. It appears on neither FATF list. Its confirmed instrument on record is the Act 25 of 5 September 1997 of 1997. The dates below are the depositary's; the instruments, where any are named, are the register's.
International framework
Ecuador is bound by all four instruments this dataset tracks, the earliest from 1990 and the most recent from 2013.
| Instrument | Adopted | Ratified or acceded | Depositary reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 Convention | 1988 | 23 Mar 1990 | Chapter VI-19 |
| UNTOC | 2000 | 17 Sep 2002 | Chapter XVIII-12 |
| UNCAC | 2003 | 15 Sep 2005 | Chapter XVIII-14 |
| Firearms Protocol | 2001 | 25 Sep 2013 | Chapter XVIII-12-c |
What each instrument obliges a party to do is set out once, per instrument, in the conventions reference. The dates above are what is specific to Ecuador: they are the points from which each obligation began to bind, taken from the depositary's own status tables.
National legislation
These are the instruments an official source confirms for Ecuador. The list is what could be cited, not necessarily everything in force.
Act 25 of 5 September 1997 — A principal instrument in its own right, confirmed on the register named below; its subject matter is not stated on the face of its title. Confirmed against the UNODC legal library, checked 2026-07-30.
Enforcement authorities
2 bodies are named in the record for Ecuador, each confirmed on Ecuador's own government domain. Naming the body matters because the treaty obligations above bind the state, while the powers to act on them sit with particular institutions under national law.
| Body | Function | Confirmed on |
|---|---|---|
| Fiscalía General del Estado | prosecution | fiscalia.gob.ec |
| Ministerio de Gobierno | policy and oversight | ministeriodegobierno.gob.ec |
Ratification sequence
The dates below are worth reading as a sequence rather than as a set. Ecuador came to these instruments over 23 years, beginning with the 1988 Convention in 1990 and ending with the Firearms Protocol in 2013. Measured against each instrument's own adoption, the shortest gap was the 1988 Convention at 2 years, the longest the Firearms Protocol at 12.
Ecuador became a party to the 1988 Convention in 1990, 2 years after it was adopted — faster than the median lag of 5 years across this dataset.
The intervals below are where the obligations were partial rather than complete. For the 12 years between 1990 and 2002, Ecuador was bound by the 1988 Convention but not yet by the UNTOC, the UNCAC or the Firearms Protocol. For the 8 years between 2005 and 2013, Ecuador was bound by the 1988 Convention, the UNTOC and the UNCAC but not yet by the Firearms Protocol. Nothing in the later instruments reaches back into that window, which is why a complete position today says little about a case from then.
On coverage, Ecuador is one of 81 jurisdiction s here party to 4 of the four, against 81 party to all four. 3 of the 33 Latin America and the Caribbean records here are under increased monitoring as the register stands.
Financial-crime monitoring
As of the FATF plenary statements of 2026-06-19, Ecuador is recorded as Not listed . The two statements are issued together and read together, because a jurisdiction named in the second is not on the first. The process is described on the FATF grey list tracker.
Questions about drug and firearms law in Ecuador
Which drug-control conventions has Ecuador ratified?
All four: the 1988 Convention on 23 Mar 1990, the UNTOC on 17 Sep 2002, the UNCAC on 15 Sep 2005, the Firearms Protocol on 25 Sep 2013.
Is Ecuador on the FATF grey list?
No. Ecuador appears on neither the increased-monitoring list nor the call-for-action list in the FATF statements of 19 June 2026.
What national drug legislation is on record for Ecuador?
Act 25 of 5 September 1997, confirmed against the UNODC legal library.
Which register confirms the legislation on this page?
Each instrument names its own. For Ecuador that is the UNODC legal library. Each link resolves to the register's own copy, not to a summary of it.
What is source tier A, and why is this record in it?
Tier A means a national instrument has been confirmed against an official register — for Ecuador, 1 of them. The treaty dates and the listing status are separately sourced, so all three layers of this record carry a citation.
Why does the ratification date matter?
The date is the point from which the obligations bind. Ecuador's earliest of these commitments dates from 1990, its most recent from 2013; the gap between them is a rough measure of how long the framework took to assemble.
Sources
- Ratification dates: United Nations Treaty Collection, depositary status tables (chapters VI-19, XVIII-12, XVIII-14, XVIII-12-c). Checked 2026-07-29.
- Listing status: FATF, Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring and High-Risk Jurisdictions subject to a Call for Action, 2026-06-19.
- Act 25 of 5 September 1997: the UNODC legal library, checked 2026-07-30.