Swiss War Materiel and Arms Exports

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Sphinx pistols for Saudi Arabia

Goods category: War materiel

The Sphinx/Kriss Group planned to supply pistols to Saudi Arabia’s royal guard. SECO rejected an application submitted in June 2012 to export disassembled complete pistols through the United States. An application for Swiss parts accounting for 42 per cent of manufacturing costs followed in September 2012. The Federal Council also rejected this on 23 January 2013; the transaction had publicly been valued at around 45 million Swiss francs. In April 2013, the company submitted another US application and said the pistols intended for Saudi Arabia would be manufactured under licensing agreements in France, Italy, Austria and the United States. SECO approved this third application. In 2018, the Swiss Federal Audit Office reported that the Saudi deal had nevertheless been completed through production abroad.

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 Saudi Arabia 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 Saudi Arabia 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 Saudi Arabia in recent years (24’295 million TIV).

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Time period

Applications and decisions in 2012–2013; Federal Audit Office review in 2018

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