On Monday, August 25 in the morning hours, Excalibur Defense Ltd commenced transporting 58 T–72 tanks into the area of the Czech Republic. The tanks are withdrawn from service and have been purchased from the Hungarian Defence Forces. The customer is managing the transportation and has all the required licenses for the shipment of military equipment. Press release.
Under the terms of the sales contract, the customer has strict liability because the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty) applies to all sales of tanks, and it must also comply with the concrete regulations imposed by the Hungarian laws. The customer is allowed to resell the tanks only in compliance with the relevant provisions of the CFE Treaty.
The CFE Treaty sets a ceiling on the number of tanks that can be held by any one country and includes further provisions for reduction, withdrawal from service, storage, information exchange and verification.
Hungary has acted responsibly as it has sold the disused tanks with the provision that they cannot be sold to a country against which embargo is enforced. After the transportation to the Czech Republic, in accordance with the CFE Treaty, the Czech authorities are under obligation and in charge of authorizing and monitoring the handling, use and resale of military equipment.