Practice Relating to Rule 86. Blinding Laser Weapons
Austria’s Law on the Prohibition of Blinding Laser Weapons (1998) states: “The acquisition, possession, development, transportation, production, trade and arrangement of acquisition and sale of blinding laser weapons and specific parts of them are prohibited.” It punishes “whoever, and even if only by negligence, contravenes the prohibition of § 2 of this Federal Law”.
Upon acceptance of the 1995 Protocol IV to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Austria stated: “The provisions of … Protocol [IV] which by their contents or nature may also be applied in peacetime, shall be observed at all times.”