Defence Materiel Export practices
There have been discussions concerning defence materiel export practices in the media during the last few days. Patria acts in line with the Finnish and the EU laws and arms export regulations. Also, Patria is committed among other things to the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of European (ASD) ethical Common Industry Standards.
In Finland, to export, transfer, transit and broker defence materiel, a licence from the central government or the Ministry of Defence is always required. A decision is made on a case by case basis and it will be granted if it is in line with Finland’s foreign and security policy and does not compromise Finland’s security.
The officials of the Finnish ministries, especially in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its network of Embassies, have the best knowledge and prerequisite to evaluate situations in different countries. Therefore, Patria is in a constant dialogue with the ministries concerning different projects and project countries. Among other prerequisites for obtaining a licence is submitting a reliable account of the final end user of the materiel.
Development and production of defence materiel are common and acceptable activities. It is important for military security of supply that there is national competence in Finland. The defence industry cannot rely exclusively on the national customer’s needs and volumes to maintain its competencies. This is one of the reasons why Patria is active in the international markets – already over the decades.
The defence materiel projects usually take several years. If a contract is signed today, production may take several years, and depending on the scope of the project the customer will have the products in full use, personnel trained, etc. many years from the original contract signature. Often procurement projects also include life cycle support and maintenance services which may require additional export licences.
One of the export countries has been the United Arab Emirates, to where Patria has delivered Patria AMV vehicles in 2016. At the moment Patria has no export licences pending to the UAE for new procurement projects. Nevertheless, the Middle East remains as a strategic area of interest in long-term.
Further information on export license practices:
https://www.patria.fi/en/corporate-responsibility/social-responsibility/...
https://www.defmin.fi/en/tasks_and_activities/resources_of_the_defence_a...
