Switzerland. 2009 ‘Collection and Disposal.’ National Report of Switzerland on its Implementation of the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (UNPoA), p. 7. New York, NY: Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations. 31 December

Relevant contents

Collection and Disposal

On federal level (i.e. SALW of the Armed Forces) the Armed Forces Planning is the responsible agency for the entire life cycle management of SALW of the Armed Forces, from the definition phase right up to the actual disposal. Therefore, the Armed Forces Planning is the government agency authorized to define and identify SALW surplus stocks based on military criteria.

On behalf of the Armed Forces Planning, armasuisse (formerly the Defence Procurement Agency), a departmental unit of the DDPS (Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport), supervises system management throughout the entire life cycle, including the disposal process after decommissioning. armasuisse entrusts the task of eliminating SALW of the Armed Forces either to RUAG Components disposing the specific SALW at a civilian private certified recycling company under the supervision of its representatives and keeps a protocol on destruction, or in case of special SALW to RUAG Land Systems.

Generally SALW will be shredded. However, not all SALW seized by the police forces are necessarily destroyed because there are also other procedures of disposal.

[SALW = Small Arms and Light Weapons]

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