The Swiss Government recently announced that licences will no longer be permitted for war materials (“Kreigsmaterial”) exported to end users in Lebanon. Previously, a licence could be obtained for war materials supplied to groups responsible for the protection of Politically Exposed Persons, subject to a declaration of no re-export without written Swiss permission and on-site checks. The change in approach resulted from a post-shipment verification in 2018, which allowed only for the physical verification of 9 out of 40 military rifles and pistols, despite an export licence having been granted in 2016. Moving forward, Swiss licences will no longer be available for war materials being exported to Lebanon, regardless of their end-use.

Authors: Ross L. Denton and Sunny Mann