SWITZERLAND: EXECUTION DRUGS FACE EXPORT RESTRICTIONS

September 10, 2013: The Swiss parliament wants to prevent pharmaceutical companies from supplying drugs used for the execution of prisoners. Such exports have been restricted by the European Union since 2011. On Monday (September 9), the Senate approved the proposal without much of a discussion, following the recommendation of its health commission. The cabinet will now work out a bill and most likely add a clause to the law on therapeutic products.
Interior Minister Alain Berset said there was currently no legal basis to ban the export of such drugs, but the medicines may become subject to a permit, requiring companies to ensure that their products are not used for executions.
The cabinet reiterated that it fundamentally backs the proposal that was originally submitted by Barbara Schmid-Federer from the centre-right Christian Democratic Party to the House of Representatives, because Switzerland is opposed to capital punishment. The House of Representatives approved the move in March.
 “Switzerland is committed to respect and the enforcement of human rights,” Berset told the Senate on Monday. “The cabinet will back the move because it wants to send a strong signal to show that it supports the worldwide abolition of capital punishment.” Since 2011, the European Union has required companies to obtain special permission to export drugs that may be used to execute prisoners. Because of parliament’s decision, Switzerland will now have to coordinate its legislation with that of the EU.
Health commission head Urs Schwaller, who presented to motion to the Senate, said a rejection would not be an option because it could be interpreted as support for the death penalty. At the same time, the commission said some issues remained with the practical implementation.
Berset conceded that it would be difficult to determine the exact use in every case because in most cases the anaesthetic drugs are used for therapies and only rarely for executions. At the same time, it would also not be easy to prevent the drugs being sold through intermediaries, the cabinet said.
On the one hand, the cabinet is opposed to capital punishment; but on the other, it is reluctant to act. There is no “urgent need for action”, Berset said. The cabinet instead bets on the responsible conduct of the companies because it says it cannot really be in the interests of the drugmakers to supply lethal agents used in executions. There are only a few cases where Swiss companies have been linked to the supply of lethal drugs.
In 2011, it became known that Novartis unit Sandoz had supplied thiopental to the United States via an intermediary. In the same year, Basel-based drugmaker Naari reportedly supplied the same agent via an Indian intermediary to Nebraska. Both companies have repudiated the use of their agent as lethal drug.
 Schmid-Federer filed her motion because, in her view, Switzerland should in no way contribute to the enforcement of the death penalty. That is why she wants to forbid the export of drugs in cases where it is discernible that they are used for the execution of humans.
Swiss law on therapeutic products already prohibits the export of drugs that are banned in the destination country or when it is clear that they may be illegally used. But as the death penalty is in fact legal in some countries, there is not really any legal basis to ban the export of such drugs. (Sources: swissinfo.ch, 10/09/2013)