Memorandum from The Royal Society
REVIEW OF
EXPORT CONTROL
LEGISLATION
I wanted to thank you for writing to me regarding
your Committee's review of export control legislation. We welcome
your inquiry into the 2002 Export Control Act and the orders made
under the Act.
The Society is committed to ensuring that academic
freedoms are not unduly hindered by any new legislation or regulation.
We raised a number of questions during the passage of the Export
Control Act and its secondary legislation. In particular we stressed
the following points:
— The scientific community appreciates
its responsibilities in combating terrorism and weapons proliferation
and consequently welcomes the majority of the legislation. The
Society's long-standing commitment on this subject is illustrated
by the meetings held in October 2004 on reducing the potential
for the misuse of life science research and in September 2006
on science and technology developments relevant to the Biological
& Toxin Weapons Convention. I have enclosed copies of the
meeting reports for your information.
— Academics do not have a culture of
dealing with export controls: this is something that will need
to be built up over time.
We would like to stress that it is too soon
to determine whether the Export Control Act is significantly affecting
academic freedoms or scientific research. We would like to suggest
that the Department of Trade & Industry should monitor this
issue. We will continue to maintain our watching brief over all
legislation or regulation that might unduly hinder scientific
progress. If we discover any such issues we will bring them to
the attention of your Committee, the Department of Trade &
Industry or other Government Departments as appropriate. Please
do not hesitate to get in touch if the Society could provide any
further relevant information.
November 2006
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