DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Thomas Maaberg Hansen and Peter Sand, Gorrissen Federspiel
1. Overview of the Defence Regulatory Framework 1.1 Principal Legislation and Regulatory Framework The principal regulations concerning the defence sec - tor in Denmark are found in various different legal are - as within Danish legislation, with Danish Weapons Act No 1736 of 26 August 2021 on Weapons and Explo - sives (the “Danish Weapons Act”) ( Våbenloven ) and the Danish Act No 1004 of 22 October 2012 on War Material (the “Danish War Material Act”) plus related executive orders being the most significant. The rel - evant legislation is referred to throughout this chapter. 1.2 Competent Authorities The key governmental authorities are the Ministry of Defence ( Forsvarsministeriet ) and its agencies, includ - ing the Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO) ( Forsvarsministeriets Materiel - og Indkøbsstyrelse ) and the Danish Business Authority ( Erhvervsstyrelsen ). 1.3 Definition of “Defence” and “Dual-Use” Generally, the distinction is made between civil/mili - tary convertibility: war material under the Danish War Material Act covers items designed exclusively for military use with no civil application, whereas dual- use items are – by definition – usable for both civil and military purposes. In this connection, the appendix to Directive 2009/43/EC of 6 May 2009 provides a list of materials considered “defence goods”. See also 3.1 Export Control Legislation and Regula- tory Framework and 3.2 Scope of Controls: Military and Dual-Use Lists . 1.4 International Frameworks and Treaty Obligations NATO Denmark’s NATO commitments are given domestic effect primarily through the Act on the Implementa - tion of the Agreement on the Status of NATO Forces and of the Protocol on the Status of International Mili - tary Headquarters (Act No 143 of 1955), which grants allied military authorities the right to exercise criminal and disciplinary jurisdiction on Danish territory over
their own forces, within the limits set by the NATO Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). A more recent bilateral arrangement built directly on this framework is the Act on Defence Co-Operation Between Denmark and the United States (Act No 698 of 2025), which implements the December 2023 Defence Co-Operation Agreement – under which, US forces may perform tasks in Denmark, and US military authorities are granted disciplinary jurisdiction over their own personnel. Denmark has also implemented related EU conven - tional-forces obligations through the Act on Inspection of Conventional Armed Forces in Denmark (Act No 7 of 1992), which allows inspectors from parties to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to verify Danish compliance on-site. The Arms Trade Treaty Denmark signed the Arms Trade Treaty on 3 June 2013 and ratified it on 2 April 2014 following parliamentary approval under Act No 1623 of 26 December 2013. The Arms Trade Treaty was subsequently published in Danish law by Order No 6 of 23 February 2015. Its implementation is integrated into Denmark’s existing weapons and export control legislation, including the Weapons Act (consolidated Act No 1736 of 26 August 2021) and the Danish War Material Act (consolidated Act No 1004 of 22 October 2012), rather than through Denmark implements the Wassenaar Arrangement’s export control standards primarily through the EU dual-use framework, in particular Regulation (EU) 2021/821, which applies directly in Denmark. The Export Control Act (Consolidated Act No 635 of 2011) gives further domestic effect to this regime by author - ising the Minister for Business and Growth to adopt the national provisions necessary to apply such EU regulations. EU Defence Directives a standalone implementing act. The Wassenaar Arrangement Denmark implements EU defence procurement rules through its national procurement framework. In par - ticular, Directive 2009/81/EC on defence and security procurement (the “EU Defence and Security Procure -
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