Ministry of defence Republic of Serbia
 
10.03.2009.

COMMUNIQUE



The Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Defense especially, are doing everything they can to revive and stabilize the production process in defense industry factories.

Since 2005, the control of arms and goods of dual purpose was transferred from military to civilian structures, so according to the Law on Foreign Policy of arms and military equipment and good of dual purpose , it is the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development which is now in charge of issuing permits with a previously obtained permission of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign along with the opinion of the Police.

The Ministry of Defense issues an approval based on article 22 of the Law on Foreign Trade of arms and military equipment and goods of dual purpose. In the process of deciding whether to give approval, the effects on Serbia’s security are also placed under consideration and it ha to be verified whether these goods are on the list of exports.

The ministry does everything in line with the Law on Production and Trade, which does not envision for the domestic trading companies to become owners of military equipment and weapons.

The most important thing is for the companies to do business responsibly, following all regulations and codes of behaviour, to be serious and to be aware of the complexity of this business where even the slightest mistake and an attempt to trick and bypass the international laws of trade could ours country its credibility and reputation. The Law on Foreign Echange of Military Weapons and Equipment obliges us to since this law is harmonized with the EU laws regarding the export procedures of arms.
If the licensed user own „end user certificate“ awarded by the import country which is not on the list of countries under sanctions, this does not mean that the export permit would be automatically issued.

The situation in the end user country is considered along with the situation regarding the respect of human rights in that country, the stability in the region, opinion of that country and its official position towards terrorism and the possibility of “redirecting” the goods to “more sensitive” regions.

Codes are part of our and European regulations and their respect ins mandatory in consideration of single cases. These requests are considered based on the principle of case by case inspection and there is o precedent.

However, the target of the export process is not just the end user, but every participant of this process-from the manufacturer, to the export company to the mediators. If there is any evidence that the legal regulations are not being abided by, an already issued permit can be withdrawn.
 
MOD
Ministry of defence Republic of Serbia, Bircaninova 5 street, Belgrade
Questions of citizens: brziodgovor@mod.gov.rs, media requests: info@mod.gov.rs
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