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Oberndorf / Berlin (dpa) - When exporting weapons, the manufacturer Heckler & Koch suffered a court defeat of fundamental importance.

After the decision of the Berlin Administrative Court on exports to South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia, no appeal was made, said a spokesman for the Swabian armory on request.

The deadline for appeals and for going to the Federal Administrative Court recently expired, so the decision became legally binding from the beginning of January.

In the proceedings, the arms manufacturer had complained that the federal government had acted inappropriately.

The company questioned whether the federal government actually had the final say in arms exports or whether courts could review export refusals.

According to previous practice, armaments companies submit export applications to the federal government.

In the case of recipient countries outside the EU and NATO, the Federal Security Council, on which various ministers sit, then gives the green light or rejects the applications - without any explanation.

It has been going on for decades and this is how it happened in 2019, when Heckler & Koch wanted to deliver submachine guns to South Korea's police, among other things, and was not allowed to do so - although the company had done this many times in the past.

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After the decision of the Federal Security Council - and thus an executive body - the end of the flagpole has been reached in the matter of arms exports according to current practice.

The judiciary, on the other hand, has so far played no role.

It will stay that way, because, according to the Berlin Administrative Court, the refusals were not "faulty in judgment".

From the court's point of view, the political principles of a government are reason enough for a no.

Only the prohibition of arbitrariness represents a limit, which has not been exceeded here.

The company spokesman explained the procedure: "We accept the decision - now we know that the approval channels are correct."

Armaments experts do not know that before Heckler & Koch another arms company had gone to court in a comparable procedure - the decision is seen as sending out a signal for the entire arms industry.

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It has long been a thorn in the side of representatives of the industry that their export applications to some countries are sometimes waved through and sometimes rejected and that they do not find out the exact reasons for saying no.

Now the industry knows that nothing can be done about it - and that it will continue to do so in the future.

From the point of view of industry experts, the licensing practice of the federal government is an incalculable stumbling block for arms companies.

“The companies have no planning security because the federal government changes every four years and the cards are reshuffled in terms of export controls,” says regulatory lawyer Jan Byok from the law firm Bird & Bird.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210207-99-334547 / 2

Decision of the Berlin Administrative Court