Military Weapons Control Act
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Implementation Act to Article 26 Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law |
| Short title: | War Weapons Control Act, [War Weapons Control Act] (not official) |
| Abbreviation: | KrWaffKontrG |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Legal matter: | Constitutional law , business administration law |
| References : | 190-1 |
| Original version from: | April 20, 1961 ( BGBl. I p. 444 ) |
| Entry into force on: | June 1, 1961 |
| New announcement from: | November 22, 1990 ( BGBl. I p. 2506 ) |
| Last change by: |
Art. 36 VO of June 19, 2020 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1328, 1332 ) |
| Effective date of the last change: |
June 27, 2020 (Art. 361 of June 19, 2020) |
| Weblink: | Text of the law |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The Act on the Control of War Weapons regulates the manufacture, surrender, placing on the market, acquisition and also the transport of objects, substances and organisms intended for warfare. The approval authority is primarily the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology . In addition, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) also controls the import and export of war weapons, for example through regular inspection of the war weapons books .
An export permit is required for export . Actions taken without proper authorization are punishable by law. These penalties are much more severe than those of the Foreign Trade Act and include imprisonment (up to 5 years).
All devices, parts, devices, facilities, substances and organisms that serve civil purposes or scientific, medical or industrial research in the field of pure and applied science are excluded from the provisions.
Control concept
The KrWaffKontrG limits the spread of weapons of war ( proliferation ) to only exceptionally authorized persons or companies. A permit is required in any case. Violations are usually criminal offenses according to §§ 19–20a, 22a KrWaffKontrG. The penal provisions are designed as criminal offenses because of the high risk potential. The War Weapons Control Act thus belongs to ancillary criminal law .
Weapons of war
For the purposes of this Act, war weapons include all weapons intended for warfare in accordance with the War Weapons List , for example:
- ABC weapons
- Warplanes and attack helicopters
- Warships , landing craft and submarines
- Main battle tanks and other armored vehicles
- Missile weapons and their mobile and stationary launch devices
- Howitzers , artillery , land mines , sea mines , anti-personnel mines , mortars , mine-laying devices and high-explosive bombs
- Fully automatic firearms such as machine carbines , machine guns , assault rifles and submachine guns ( war weapons )
- Flamethrowers and grenade launchers
- Hand grenades and cluster munitions
- Torpedoes , land mines / sea mines / anti-personnel mines / anti-tank mines , bombs and depth charges
- Anti-tank hand weapons such as bazooka and RPG
- Warheads and most of the ammunition for the listed weapons
criticism
It is criticized that the KrWaffKontrG can be bypassed too easily due to legal gray areas and legal loopholes and therefore requires additional regulations, such as B. the Foreign Trade Act . The KrWaffKontrG also does not adequately regulate the trade in production licenses for weapons abroad. Furthermore, the KrWaffKontrG is in competition with other legal norms, especially at EU level, and thus increases legal uncertainty.
literature
- Simon Pschorr: The jurisdiction in the control of war weapons . In: Law Studies & Exams . Edition 2/2015. Tübingen 2015, p. 127–133 ( zeitschrift-jse.de [PDF; 1.4 MB ]).
- Klaus Pottmeyer: War Weapons Control Act (KWKG). ISBN 3-452-21906-2
- Hubertus von Poser, Gross Naedlitz: The approval decision according to the War Weapons Control Act. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-631-34434-1
- Klaus Bieneck: Handbook of foreign trade law with war weapons control law. 2nd Edition. Otto Schmidt, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-933188-27-X
- Joachim Steindorf: Weapons Law: Weapons Act, Shelling Act, War Weapons Control Act including subordinate regulations and ancillary provisions. 10th edition. Beck Juristischer Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3-406-65843-3
Web links
- Text of the law
- Otfried Nassauer, Christopher Steinmetz: “Made in Germany” inside. Components - the forgotten arms exports. (Study on the problem of the KWKG)
Individual evidence
- ↑ German soldiers smuggled weapons. In: Spiegel Online . February 3, 2001, accessed December 5, 2014 .
- ↑ morgenpost.de
- ↑ EM Hucko, J. Wagner (ed.): Foreign trade law, war weapons control law. Bonn 2001, p. 289.
- ↑ Kerstin Kohlenberg: Planet of weapons . In: Die Zeit , No. 19/2007
- ↑ Wissenschaft-und-frieden.de
- ↑ Nils Metzger: The trace of the lead. In: Zenith - Zeitschrift für den Orient from August 12, 2010. Retrieved on March 29, 2012.
- ^ Bernhard Moltmann: Legal norms for German arms exports. In: Anne Jenichen (Ed.): Arms transfers and human rights. LIT Verlag, Berlin / Hamburg / Münster 2002, ISBN 978-3-8258-6117-9 , pp. 26–33.
