My honourable friend the Minister of State for Energy (Malcolm Wicks) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The Government will today, 21 July 2008, publish their further response to the public consultation on UK strategic export controls.
On Wednesday 6 February 2008, I announced to the House the publication of the Government’s initial response to a public consultation on strategic export controls introduced under the Export Control Act 2004. This response is available at: www.berr.gov.uk/europeandtrade/strategic-export-control/legislation/export-control-act-2002/review/index.html. In it, the Government made a commitment to tighten controls in four areas.
I am pleased to announce that since the initial response was published the Government:
have added sting sticks to the UK list of torture equipment;
have started EU negotiations to introduce a new torture end-use control;
are on track to create the new three-category structure for the trade controls, and extend the extraterritorial controls on small arms, MANPADs and cluster munitions, on 1 October 2008. The Government have also now taken the decision to withdraw all cluster munitions from service in the spirit of the Dublin Convention on Cluster Munitions1;
are on track to move light weapons into category B of the new trade controls on 6 April 2009. This will bring under control the trading activities of UK persons anywhere in the world in relation to those weapons. On the same date, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and long-range missiles (LRMs) will be moved into category B; and
are on track to correct a current legal anomaly on the treatment of non-military explosive goods by 1 October 2008. This will bring a wider range of activities relating to the trading of those goods to embargoed destinations under control. In particular, this will include trading activities of UK persons anywhere in the world.
The initial response also identified a number of other areas where further detailed analysis and discussion were needed. I am now in a position to update the House on these areas. The further response commits the Government to:
negotiate an enhanced EU military end-use control under which licences will be required for export from the EU of any non-controlled goods that the exporter knows are intended for use in listed destinations, by the military, police or security forces, or has been informed by the Government that the goods are or may be so used, but only where there is a clear risk that the goods might be used for internal repression, for breaches of human rights or against UK forces or those of allies;
introduce additional controls on the provision of transport in the highest-risk circumstances through amendments to the trade controls; and
adjust the scope of the current legislative exemptions in relation to transit and transhipment so that there is no exemption for category A goods. For category B goods, we will remove the exemption for specified destinations of concern.
The further response also identifies areas where the Government have decided not to make a change. These are:
ancillary services—the Government have concluded that the sole provision of finance or insurance services and general advertising and promotion should not be controlled for the new category B goods, but active or targeted promotional activities aimed at securing a particular business deal will be controlled;
a pre-licensing registration system for arms brokers—the Government are not yet fully convinced at this stage that the benefits of a pre-licensing registration system would justify the burden that it could impose on legitimate business, particularly in view of steps that they are already taking in other areas;
the current provision in the trade controls that limits the controls on certain activities to those that are done in return for the receipt of a fee, commission or other consideration will be retained, although we will amend the current legislation to clarify what is meant by the term “commission or consideration”;
the harmonisation of the definitions of technology—the response concludes that the current definitions differ for legitimate reasons and so it would be inappropriate to harmonise them, but commits to update guidance to clarify the reasoning behind these differences.
There are also some areas where work is continuing. This further response therefore also:
informs readers that the Government are still considering with non-government organisation and industry stakeholders whether to extend trade controls on activities by UK persons anywhere in the world to cover other weapons, i.e. beyond cluster munitions, small arms, light weapons and MANPADS; and
provides an update on the progress made by the Government in negotiating a torture end-use control in the EU, as noted in the initial response.
I am very pleased to announce this wide-ranging package of measures, which I am satisfied address the main interests of our stakeholders and are at the same time proportionate to the risks concerned, effective and enforceable.
1 Announced on 30 May 2008.