Swiss War Materiel and Arms Exports

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Relaxation of Swiss arms export rules

Goods category: Not applicable – context / resource note

In September 2013, the Council of States approved motion 13.3662 to relax the rules on war materiel exports; the National Council followed in March 2014. The resulting amendment to the ordinance allowed exceptions for countries with systematic and serious human rights violations, provided there was a low risk that the material supplied would be used for such violations. In October 2018, the Federal Council withdrew a further relaxation announced that year for exports to states with internal armed conflicts.

Effect of the proposed War Materiel Act revision

Under the new Article 22b, the Federal Council could depart from all the licensing criteria in Article 22a under vaguely defined ‘exceptional circumstances’. The public would not have to be informed. Relevant general changes would also include preferential approval for Annex 2 states under Article 22a paragraph 2bis and the situation-dependent waiver of non-re-export declarations under Article 18 paragraph 1. This context entry names no specific foreign recipient state for a country or SIPRI assignment.

Countries

Time period

Motion in 2013; amendment in 2014; further proposal in 2018

Sources