Pakistan's rise to a nuclear power and German arms exports

In the latest HSFK-Report 4/2012, Klaus-Peter Ricke describes the role of German companies in the rise of Pakistan as a nuclear power

During the 1970s until the 1990s, German companies had a major share in Pakistan acquiring a nuclear bomb. Due to insufficiently equipped administrations and no legal basis, proliferation activities were not prosecuted.

 

These defects were resolved in the early 1990s by, among others, improving approval regulations and criminal law. However, the upcoming revision of the foreign trade law could mark a step backwards if controls of commercial export were soon to be adjusted to the low standard of the European Union.

 

In his HSFK-Report 4/2012 "Der Aufstieg Pakistans zur Atommacht und der Beitrag deutscher Unternehmen" (Pakistan's rise to a nuclear power and the role of German companies), Klaus-Peter Ricke describes previous procedures and provides recommendations for an improved exports control.

 

Dr Klaus-Peter Ricke is a visiting researcher at PRIF. From 1989 to 2006 he was occupied at the Customs Criminal Investigation Office in Cologne. There he was responsible for observing telecommunications and mail correspondence to prevent illegal exports as well as for conducting criminal investigations in cases of suspected violation of the Federal Act on Foreign Trade and the German War Weapons Control Act.

 

This HSFK-Report is available at PRIF for EUR 6,- or as free PDF download.