Defence Equipment: Exports

Mr. Scott
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether export licences for military equipment are required by a (a) private individual and (b) museum or collection for the export of historic former military aircraft.

Malcolm Wicks
The requirement for an export licence is determined by the nature of the goods being exported, not the exporting entity. In general, military equipment, including historic former military aircraft, is highly likely to require an export licence but a definitive decision can only be given where detailed information is made available by the exporting entity in order to allow for a full assessment against the “UK Military List”.

Mr. Scott
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many export licences for arms and other military equipment were applied for in the last three years for which figures are available; and how many applications were refused.

Malcolm Wicks
For the last three years for which figures are available, the Government received 5,385 (2004), 5,378 (2005) and 6,003 (2006) applications for Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs), 486 (2004), 449 (2005) and 364 (2006) applications for Open Individual Export Licences (OIELs); for arms and other military equipment. In addition, there were 703 (2004), 434 (2005) and 354 (2006) registrations for Open General Export Licences (OGELs) for dual-use and military listed items.

The Government publishes detailed information on its export licensing decisions, including the total number of licences refused, in its Annual and Quarterly Reports on Strategic Export Controls. The Government's Annual Reports are available from the Libraries of the House and the DTI Export Control Organisation website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/europeandtrade/strategic-export-control/index.html