The War Weapons Control Act (KrWaffKontrG) provides that all activities in connection with war weapons (production, acquisition and transfer of actual control, every type of transport or foreign transaction) require prior licensing by the Federal Government. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is the licensing agency for commercial transactions; the Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, and Federal Ministry of Defence, whose portfolios include the handling of war weapons, are responsible for the respective approvals pursuant to the War Weapons Control Act falling within their scope of competence.

Please note that as per section 6 War Weapons Control Act, applicants have no legal entitlement to the issuance of a licence. Licences must be denied where there is a danger that the war weapons will be used in connection with peace-disturbing acts, that the obligations of the Federal Republic of Germany under international law will be impaired, or where the applicant does not possess the necessary reliability for the action. In principle, licences will not be issued to private individuals wishing to use war weapons for private purposes (e.g. for collecting or for playing sports). A successful application must furnish proof that the desired handling of war weapons is in the best interest of the public/state.

Other key requirements in connection with application procedures under the War Weapons Control Act are set out in the Second Ordinance implementing the War Weapons Control Act. The Ordinance on General Licences pursuant to the War Weapons Control Act establishes specific cases in which general licences are issued, so that no individual licences are required.

Fees will be charged for the processing of applications or inquiries in the area of war weapons control that are submitted to the BMWK or addressed to the BMWK as of 1.1.2024 in accordance with the Special Fees Ordinance of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection for individually attributable public services in its area of responsibility and that of the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control for War Weapons Control, Export Control and Investment Control (BMWKBGebKAIV).

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action has published several guidance papers and additional information on the subject of war weapons control and related application procedures. You can find these here.

You will also find the special data protection statement applying for approval procedures under the War Weapons Control Act and other inquiries on war weapons control; this applies in addition to the Ministry’s general data protection statement.

Furthermore, you will find explanations regarding the War Weapons List here.

For any questions on war weapons control, please contact Division EC6: buero-ec6@bmwk.bund.de.

Licence holders under the War Weapons Control Act are subject to specific obligations, notably that of keeping a war weapons’ log. The Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control is the surveillance authority responsible for war weapons control, which means that it will monitor compliance with the licensing requirements, e.g. by conducting inspections on company premises. For further information on the surveillance responsibilities of the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control and for their guidance papers, please click here:
https://www.bafa.de/DE/Aussenwirtschaft/Kriegswaffenkontrolle/kriegswaffenkontrolle_node.html

War weapons rendered unusable/demilitarisation

The handling of war weapons rendered unusable for military purposes and the procedure used to achieve this condition is governed by the Ordinance on rendering war weapons unusable and on the handling of war weapons rendered unusable (Kriegswaffenunbrauchbarmachungs- und -umgangsverordnung – KrWaffUnbrUmgV ).

Upon application, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action can declare that a product has lost the characteristics of a war weapon and can be referred to as unusable.

For all cases for which the KrWaffUnbrUmgV stipulates that the handling of war weapons rendered unusable is dependent on permits or special licences, the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control is the competent licensing authority. Further information can be found here.