Assault rifles, submachine guns, silencers: By 2019, Switzerland had delivered military equipment worth several million francs to Jordan.Image: KEYSTONE
05/19/2026, 09:06May 19, 2026, 9:07 am
Last year, Jordan partially refused to allow a Swiss delegation to inspect weapons exported from Switzerland. This is shown by a report from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, which Swiss radio and television reported on Tuesday.
Countries that import Swiss weapons are not allowed to pass them on. Switzerland can check on site whether the war material is still in the country using so-called post-shipment verifications (PSV). Only then does it become clear how seriously the destination country actually takes the intergovernmental obligation, writes Seco in the report.
Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) received the report based on the publicity principle and made it available to the Keystone-SDA news agency.
Jordan did not meet the PSV requirements from the beginning of February 2025, as Seco writes. Because certain weapons were not allowed to be checked. There was also “no trace” of individual weapons, as the report shows. It is not clear from the partially redacted paper which weapons are involved.
The Swiss delegation was therefore able to check certain war material without further ado. The Jordanian authorities offered to report to the Swiss embassy in the capital Amman after the weapons were found.
The Seco had approved the export of submachine guns, pistols, silencers and rifles to Jordan from 2014 to 2019, as the report further shows. The export was therefore carried out in agreement with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (EDA). In future applications from Jordan for the export of Swiss war material, the PSV result will be taken into account in the decision, Seco writes.
No deliveries to Turkey
The Seco carried out five missions in 2025. In addition to Jordan, North Macedonia, Iceland and South Korea, Turkey was also controlled. The reception of the Swiss delegation for the inspection there was “rather cool,” according to the Seco report. As a result, the Turkish authorities were unable to produce all the weapons requested.
Turkey pointed out from the start that certain weapons were missing. Seco assessed the test as “partially fulfilled”, which is why new war material exports to state end recipients in Turkey cannot currently be approved. However, new deliveries of war material from Switzerland are currently not permitted due to the situation in the country.
Since the controls were introduced over ten years ago, Switzerland has carried out around 70 audits in 42 countries, SRF reported. Violations are also known in the cases of Ghana, Lebanon, Slovakia and India, among others.
According to today’s rules, with the exception of a group of Western countries, all states must guarantee when purchasing military equipment that they will not pass on the material without Switzerland’s consent and that they will accept on-site controls.
Referendum coming soon
However, there could be changes to the export of war material in the future, because the War Material Act is coming before the people. In mid-April, an alliance of the SP, Greens, EPP and non-governmental organizations submitted a referendum with over 75,000 signatures against the relaxations decided by Parliament on the export and re-export of war material.
The committee criticizes that the relaxation of the War Materials Act allows a “total free pass” for exports to 25 countries, including the USA. Swiss weapons should not be used in civil and international conflicts or end up in the hands of regimes that seriously violate human rights.
The Swiss Security Alliance, however, warns that without an adjustment to the War Materials Act, “the remaining arms industry” in Switzerland “and with it over 150,000 jobs would completely disappear”.
Re-exportation in sight
In December, the federal council weakened the export rules for war material with consideration for Swiss armaments companies. Among other things, non-re-export declarations will be abolished in the vast majority of cases. This means that Swiss war material could be exported again without any restrictions.
The vote on the war materials referendum is expected to take place on either September 27th or November 29th. The Federal Council still has to set the voting date. (pre/sda)