ZURICH: The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced in May 2014 that Syria had destroyed its stock of 120 metric tons of isopropanol. However, six months after the elimination of the stock, a Swiss firm was able to export five metric tons of isopropanol to Syria without any opposition from the Swiss authorities, RTS reported on Tuesdayexternal link.
SECO told RTS that the client was “a private Syrian pharmaceutical firm” and that there was “no indication that it had links to the Syrian regime at the time, nor today”.
Isopropanol, more commonly known as rubbing alcohol, is found in disinfectants, cleaning agents, paints and varnishes, but it is also a major component of the type of gas used in recent suspected chemical attacks by the Assad regime.
The European Union has imposed ever-tighter sanctions on the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including on the export of several chemicals. Isopropanol, or isopropyl alcohol, came under EU sanctions in July 2013. However, the Swiss authorities did not add it to its own list of banned products.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) told RTS that Switzerland “has fully adopted European sanctions against Syria” but that “in certain cases measures… are regulated differently, for example via the law on the control of goods”.
“These products… did not need an authorisation in Switzerland at the time,” said SECO, which did not oppose their export, as there were no indications in 2014 that these deliveries might be used for a weapons programme.
