Swiss War Materiel and Arms Exports

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Gun barrels for the kingdom

Goods category: War materiel

Abdullah II at the European Parliament, 15.01.2020; cropped image.

CC BY 2.0 laut Commons-Dateiseite

In 1999, RUAG supplied a 120 mm gun barrel to Jordan to upgrade a prototype tank. Another barrel, valued at 789’150 Swiss francs, followed in 2002 for a modernised M60. Licensed production in Jordan was envisaged. In September 2001, the Federal Council stated that only a preliminary enquiry about the planned cooperation had been assessed. An export was to be authorised only if Jordan undertook to re-export the resulting war materiel solely with Switzerland’s prior written consent. In 2002, the Federal Council confirmed delivery of the prototype.

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. The Federal Council could add Jordan to Annex 2 by amending the War Materiel Ordinance. This would remove the exclusion criterion based on participation in an armed conflict and make approval the rule. The Federal Council could refuse a licence only in exceptional cases. Article 18 paragraph 1 would abolish non-re-export declarations in the vast majority of cases. Weapons for Jordan could thus easily be supplied through a subsidiary or intermediary in a third country. The United States could serve as a third country, having, according to SIPRI, supplied substantial quantities of war materiel to Jordan in recent years (677 million TIV).

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Time period

Prototype in 1999; preliminary inquiry in 2000–2001; further delivery in 2002

Sources